Selectaglaze secondary glazing creating quiet and comfortable areas at the new library in Plumstead

摘要

This Grade II Listed building in the Royal Borough of Greenwich is of great architectural and historic interest. It is one of the earliest funded libraries by Andrew Carnegie and was constructed to the designs of Frank Sumner. It opened in 1904 but over the ensuing years, with little public use, the building started to fall into a state of disrepair, losing the charm, appeal and comfort which it once had. Occupying a corner plot on the busy A206, Plumstead High Street, with high volume traffic and London transport passing by, noise was of great concern. Given the function of the internal spaces - quiet, reflective, cosy reading areas, a solution was needed to combat this problem. Hawkins Brown Associates decided that Selectaglaze secondary glazing would pose the most effective solution to improve the thermal efficiency as well as dramatically reduce noise ingress. On the north elevation, facing the high street, the library has two magnificent sweeping bow windows, which occupy the majority of the ground floor, as well as a number of metal single glazed windows in various configurations on other floors. Well sealed and tightly installed secondary glazing significantly improves the performance of original windows. If used in conjunction with metal framed openings, U-values of 1.9 and reductions of 45dB (if fitted with 150mm cavity) can be achieved.