Light without fire
31st October 2017

Creating daylight-flooded space in a dense urban area, along with the need to protect against the spread of fire, was the challenge for developer Meritcape and PILKINGTON UNITED KINGDOM with the refurbishment of 7 Aylesbury Street, a converted historic warehouse building in Clerkenwell, East London, where the rear of the property was just three metres away from a neighbouring building.

Steve Bond, the glass manufacture’s technical and customer support manager, fire, said: “When you have two buildings this close together, standard glazing is not an option, as it doesn’t put up enough of a barrier to fire spreading outwards from the building.

“That’s where fire-resistant glazing can make a big difference. By providing protection against fire while also letting light flow in, we can create light-filled spaces in very built-up parts of the city where not long ago it wouldn’t have been possible.

“As well as sealing in flames and smoke for at least an hour, the glass also provides radiation shielding that reduces the amount of heat energy that can pass outwards through the glass – another key means of spreading fire.”

The rear façade of the building is glazed in Pilkington Pyroclear Plus insulating double-glazed units, delivering not only the right level of fire resistance.

Davood Kiani, Senior Project Consultant at Meritcape said: “Fire regulations are one of the big reasons for this, so Pilkington fire-resistant glazing means we can achieve the best of both worlds – a building that meets or exceeds all of the safety regulations while also feeling spacious and airy.”

Some 800m2 of Pilkington glass was used in the project, including in the front façade of the building, in which hundreds custom-sized small double-glazed solar-control units were used to imitate the crittall steel-framed windows that are a signature feature of buildings in the area.

www.pilkington.co.uk