As we move from summer into the autumn months, it’s the season where we start to expect more stormy weather to arrive and this can, of course, cause damage to buildings when the storms are severe.
If you are designing a new building, or exploring options for providing some form of shelter for people around your premises using a glass canopy to allow light in, it’s essential to assess the need for toughened laminated glass in your particular project.
The need for toughened glass in such settings was highlighted earlier this year when Storm Eowyn hit. In Barrow in Furness, the glass canopies that protected one of the town’s shopping streets from the elements shattered during the storm.
This required the street to be closed until the broken glass could be cleared up and the remaining panels checked for any damage.
In such settings, toughened laminated glass is the best choice because it has exceptional strength and impact resistance due to the laminate core in the glass panels.
Toughened laminated glass is produced by bonding two panes of glass together. This means that even if one or both of the panels were to break, they would hold together – in much the same way that car windscreens are designed to retain their form even when shattered.
There are various applications for toughened laminated glass in architecture, which are important to consider if you want to storm-proof any buildings you are renovating. Among the most common are:
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Balcony or terrace balustrading: On many outdoor terraces or balconies, it is nice to be able to see the view, but with the added protection of a solid pane rather than a metal railing. This makes glass panels the obvious choice – and because they are being installed at height, it’s essential that those panels are made from toughened laminate.
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Skylights: These are an excellent way to let more light into a building, but as they are situated at height, it’s vital that they are made from toughened glass to prevent them from breaking and causing injuries to anyone below.
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Glass canopies: If you have a canopy, either that stands alone or sticks out from the side of a building, to provide shelter from the rain, make sure it is made using toughened glass panes. Otherwise it could suffer a similar fate to the one in Barrow in Furness during an extreme weather event.
The future of toughened glass
In the past, toughened glass has been recommended for use in store front windows or on glass-fronted buildings in areas that are prone to hurricanes, but with more severe storms hitting places like the UK, we may see more commercial premises choosing the likes of toughened laminate glass for their frontage.
This is a smart way to future-proof buildings for our changing climate and to ensure that even when we experience severe winter storms, the damage caused is minimised.
Of course, this is only one of the many benefits of using toughened laminated glass in your property – there are many others, including its ability to block UV radiation and therefore provide protection from the sun’s harmful rays.