Indeglås is highlighting the new £113m Advanced Research Centre for the University of Glasgow, as “an example of a collaborative and innovative partnership.”
The company, sole distributor in the UK and Ireland for the products of glass manufacturer Deko of Denmark, was appointed by Multiplex to design, engineer and install all internal glass, including the bespoke atrium glazing system. MD Jeanette MacIntrye explained the thinking behind its approach: “Adopting this approach identified all areas to which we could apply tried and tested systems and highlighted three key areas which required wider collaboration and innovation.
“Having spent many years developing trusted relationships with a carefully selected team of qualified advisors including specialist engineers, suppliers, lifting equipment technicians and steel fabrication specialists we created task teams, each challenged by a series of ‘what if’ scenarios to find solutions. Timeframes were extremely tight; pressure, however, can often focus the mind. We understand the real-time pressures of construction phase developments at Indeglas and the strength of our network of collaborators provides our clients with trusted and well-considered proposals often way ahead of expectations.”
Challenged to achieve performance criteria including structural integrity, fall from height safety, acoustic performance, resistance to explosion, slab edge support system and glass pane height of 4400mm for the atrium screens, the company’s approach resulted in bespoke, off site manufactured, modular steel supports which were locally manufactured and installed on the concrete slab edge on each floor level using laser technology to achieve a tolerance of +/- 1mm.
The identification and specification of the glass required a separate task team where supply chain knowledge, production techniques and logistic methodology were subjected to the same ‘what if’ scenario planning, leading to the identification of a robust and high-performance laminated glass product with project specific, high strength interlayer.
She continued: “An extremely high level of accuracy was required to enable heavy glass panels to be crane lifted from the atrium side to each of the four floors individually using two specially adapted cranes before sliding the glass horizontally into place. This called for a trusted team of specialist lifting equipment technicians, suppliers, qualified operators and logistics specialists who were invited to collaborate to provide solutions for a complex number of access limitations as well as accounting for the handling of bespoke and curved profiles and the specialist training portfolio required.”
