Design assist saves time, money

If there are two words in fire-rated glazing that can save time and money on a project, it’s these: design assist. Specialty glazers like Vetrotech Saint-Gobain and others sit at a unique intersection: we’re often the connection point of what the owner wants to spend, the architect wants to design and what the code officials will accept.

For those, like us, who have a good understanding of the code requirements for resistive vs. protective fire-rated glazing, security glazing and framing systems, help is given easily.

When you bring together budget-conscience owners, project aesthetics and code considerations, the outcome is a design that meets all of these requirements.

That’s why it’s important to work with a safety glazing manufacturer that seeks to partner with architects, designers and contractors to make sure that projects not only meet code, but are completed in the most effective manner to fit the project’s needs.

Fire-rated code is complex and nuanced. An architect’s drawings include openings, daylighting and hardware in styles that are tailored to that firm’s design vision—not necessarily to satisfy a regional code requirement. It’s on the contractors to understand which hardware, glazing solutions or complete systems are fire-rated, tested in the application and code-compliant.

With the manufacturer at the table in the initial phases, working in conjunction with the architect and owner to furnish value-added design assist, there’s no question products will comply with local code requirements and meet (or exceed) the design requirements of the architect … all while staying within a budget that we can help establish.

As busy as we all are today, there’s peace of mind—and of budget!—in knowing that you don’t have to be an expert in fire-rated code. You can rely on us to help you through it, to ask the right questions and to know exactly what to do to be on the safe side.