Don’t Be Little Windows

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Cornwall Manufacturing’s commercial and technical director Angus Herdman believes that the solar performance of glass has never been more important in the fight against the demand for smaller windows.

Herdman has spent 25 years with the firm. In that time, he has seen trends develop for larger panes of glass, while building regulations have tightened, demanding greater thermal performance, better acoustic abilities, stronger security credentials and improved solar control.

 “Such is the pressure on the glass to meet these demands, that some building designers are starting to reduce the size of their windows, which is unnecessary.”

– Angus Herdman 

Commercial & technical director, Cornwall Manufacturing

Noise control

“We can make windows that can not only keep a building’s occupants warm in the winter and cool in the summer but thanks to laminate interlayers, also safe from intruders and unaffected by outside noise,” says Herdman.

Training

Aware that for many specifiers the performance of glass often remains a mystery, Herdman has developed a training programme, which he is currently sharing with customers. He adds: “For me, solar control is the most important part of the building as It costs you four times more to cool your building than it does to heat it. And with the introduction of document O, some building designers are talking about reducing the size of the windows because the buildings are starting to overheat.”

Investment

Cornwall Glass Manufacturing, part of the Cornwall Group, operates from sites in St Austell, Highbridge and Plymouth. The latter provides the foundation for the manufacture of super-sized units in a wide range of solar control, acoustic and low-e monolithic and laminated glass options. The company also has heat soaking and jumbo cutting facilities and has invested in enhanced CNC and waterjet capabilities.

An educational example

Herdman says: “Our expertise is often called upon to engineer solutions where overheating is a problem. For example, we were recently involved on a project in Penzance where a school was too hot for the pupils to work in effectively. We devised a solution using solar control glass which reduced the requirement for extra ventilation and which resulted in better security because windows weren’t left open.

“It also gave the project’s designers more freedom to specify larger areas of glass, where they were considering reducing the overall size of windows. Of course, more natural light entering schools is seen as beneficial and has been shown to improve performance among students.”

Picture: Shining a light on high-value glass

www.cornwallglass.co.uk

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
25th April 2023

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