Reading, United Kingdom

No. 1 Forbury Place

Glass feature

Fire Resistance

Frame

None

Applications

Partition/Wall

Market segment

Commercial

No.1 Forbury Place in Reading, UK, is the largest butt-jointed fire-rated glazing construction in Europe. Furthermore, it was the first project in which Vetrotech supplied its oversize fire-resistant glass, Contraflam Mega.

The project comprises more than 1'400 m2 of Vetrotech’s EI30 fire resistant glazing solution: Contraflam. On the ground floor of the 8-story atrium Contraflam Mega single panes are installed with heights of 4.5 m and weights up to almost 0.5 t. The 4-sided vitreous atrium from the first to the seventh floor has been fully equipped with Vetrotech’s Contraflam Structure flush glazing solution.

In addition to the EI 30 fire classification, the glazing required a fall protection feature for which Vetrotech worked in close collaboration with metal fabricator Arkoni. Likewise, the glasses were processed with a screen-printed ceramic frit on the bottom to conceal the gap between the computer floor and concrete floor slab at each level.

"Forbury Place is an innovative and technically challenging project. Creating seven floors of butt-jointed, fire-resistant glazing is quite an achievement and required close cooperation and teamwork from start to finish. Working with Vetrotech Saint-Gobain we developed a custom framing system that incorporated their 28mm Contraflam Structure 30 glass into this unique design."

Mark Prentice Founder & Managing Director, ARKONI Metalwork