Are highly glazed buildings and energy efficiency incompatible? Well, it’s not that simple. Glazing actually has many benefits to offer, heard delegates at the Glass Debate Part 2, which took place on 30 November at One George Street, Westminster, London SW1.

The half-day conference, organised by Glass Age and sponsored by Guardian Glass, assembled a distinguished panel of speakers to debate the pros and cons of glazing and its probable future in building design. They included Stephen Ledbetter, Director of the Centre for Window Cladding and Technology, Graham Dodd of engineers Arup, and Barry Turner of LABC Services. The event was a follow-up to the Glass Debate, which took place in March, before April’s Building Regulations amendments went live.

Taking a case study approach, Part 2 confirmed that natural light is demanded of buildings but glazing should be used with more thought for the impact on heating, lighting and air conditioning costs.

Ensuring that the air tightness of new buildings meets calculations remains a major worry – get it wrong and there are major cost implications for the project. The high performance of glazed façades and window systems for air tightness is another good reason to use glass.

The conference included a presentation by Francesco Tritta of Guardian, who explained the company’s glass coatings to radically alter glazing performance.

Source

Glass Age