Vetrotech pushes the envelope in Edinburgh: Glass Box inside Europe’s Largest Façade Retention Project

It’s only in the last 20 or so years that glass has emerged as a genuine building material in its own right, overturning the dictum of the great Swiss architect, Le Corbusier, that the history of architecture is the history of the window.

Although Le Corbusier’s definition remains largely valid, seeing glass only in terms of the window is a fairly limiting definition of what the industry is now about. Technological advances now allow for hitherto impossibly large expanses of glass to be used – and in applications that the good Le Corbusier could not have imagined.

A world-class example of how far glass has come is the Waverley Gate project in the heart of historic Edinburgh, where Vetrotech Saint-Gobain is currently supplying specialist fire resisting glass for Europe’s largest façade retention project.

FendorHansen was awarded a multi-million pound package for the design manufacture and installation of the whole glazed envelope comprising fire resistant glazing and non-fire glazing, as well as extensive roof glazing and internal glazed atria. The total area exceeds 3,500 square metres.

The prestigious £65 million Waverley Gate redevelopment in Edinburgh, due for completion in December this year, is transforming a major landmark building in the Scottish capital’s city centre into 213,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art office space.

Stone facade retained

Only the façade of the Category A listed building is being retained. Its foundation stone was laid by Prince Albert in 1861. A glass-walled box extending over seven storeys is being built within the façade in order to meet demanding performance specifications.

Fineline screens are being used to create up to seven storey tall enclosures to the new office building, spaced some two to three metres from the inner face of the stonework, which is braced by the new steel superstructure. The majority of the FineLine screens will be double glazed to achieve 60 minutes integrity while the Vitral roof system contains double glazed units to control heat loss.

This innovative project is being constructed using 2,300 sq metres of high-performing SGG Contraflam Lite-N2 glass, a Class A glass that provides fire resistance, solar control and sound reduction – a product for the most demanding of applications.

The 19th century building, opened in 1866 and closed in 1995, once housed Edinburgh’s central Post Office. Standing at the eastern end of Princes Street, the capital’s main retail thoroughfare, Waverley Gate enjoys a commanding position overlooking the city centre and castle – a landmark building at the heart of a World Heritage site.

The history of architecture as the history of the window? Maybe, but Le Corbusier’s words date back 80 years and better describe the century just ended. A far better definition for the 21st century might be, simply, that the history of architecture is the history of glass – and it’s projects like Waverley Gate that prove it.

Architects for the Waverley Gate project is the Edinburgh-based Hugh Martin Partnership and the design and build contract is being carried out by Balfour Beattie Construction Limited.