Roofglaze News

Jul 2010

Roofglaze Limited has provided a practical solution for introducing natural daylight into a sports hall at the new Big Wood School in Nottingham, under contract to  Carillion, the main contractor.

Five 1.9m x 8.5m barrel vault rooflights have been installed over the school’s new, high-tech badminton hall. As one of many exciting projects under the Government’s ‘Building Schools for the Future’ scheme, the building’s functional and environmental performance had to meet particularly stringent demands.

Recent independent research undertaken on behalf of NARM, the National Association of Rooflight Manufacturers, has proved that larger rooflight areas make a positive contribution to Part L compliance. However, in the case of this badminton hall, concerns had been raised during the specification stage that  glare introduced by rooflights could prevent players from seeing high flying shuttlecocks.

The challenge was to find the right balance between high levels of natural light and low glare for the players. Roofglaze recommended a triple-skin solid polycarbonate construction with the inner skin specified as obscure glazing.

The installation was undertaken by Roofglaze in January 2010. On completion, light levels inside the building were monitored and found to be in line with projections and the light is sufficiently diffused to allow building occupants to look up without any risk of an impaired view due to glare.

John Sylvester, Project Engineer for Carillion takes up the story: “The project ran very smoothly from the outset. We had quite a lot of contact with Roofglaze before the installation started, to ensure that the steel framework and insulation  were made to the correct dimensions to accept the rooflights, which were being manufactured at the same time, to meet a fairly tight schedule. The team from Roofglaze performed extremely well, within a very tight schedule . The site was always well-managed and left in a clean condition. We have recommended them for other forthcoming Carillion projects.”

Based in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, Roofglaze Limited is a leading supplier of glass and polycarbonate rooflights and skylights, with a complete range from modular domes and pyramids, to continuous barrel vaults, ridgelights, lantern lights and bespoke designs.