Festival Hall’s rejuvenation: LMS group company glass UK completes south bank contract

Glass UK is taking a bow following its role in the ongoing refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall. The specialist glazing supplier has provided laminated toughened glass for a suite of oversized Sheerglaze doors, balustrades and coloured staircase panels for the Hall’s new retail entrances and foyers.

Opened in 1951, the Royal Festival Hall is the jewel in the crown of London’s South Bank Centre – also close to the Glass Age offices. The foyer attracts 2.5 million visitors to a wide variety of arts events.

The contract marks Glass UK’s biggest order to date and the team worked closely with architects Allies & Morrison on the multi-million pound project to restore the Royal Festival Hall within the context of a detailed conservation plan. The Hall’s double glazed entrance consists of eight aluminium Sheerglaze doors, each measuring 3 metres x 3.1 metres, developed by sister company Metal UK.

The doors also incorporate controlled access via concealed underground operators, designed in accordance with DDA requirements. For the main foyer Glass UK provided a fully integrated double set of doors creating an airlock system for improved heat conservation. The company also supplied over 100 linear metres of laminated toughened glass for complementary Sheerglaze balustrades. In addition, walls in the staircase area have been clad with 2m x 3m Sheerglaze panels, back painted in green using the Glass FX colour treatment, for which Glass UK is the principal distributor.