Today's architecture is characterized by many large windows and curtain walls with glazing that must meet increasingly stringent requirements in terms of thermal insulation, acoustics, fire resistance and solar control. For facade builders, this is often the signal to call in the help of an expert in glass advice and glass solutions. Vandaglas is such an independent consultant and manufacturer. The company has many skilled engineers and has its own production and transformation facilities for float glass, insulating glass, curved single and insulating glass, laminated and toughened safety glass as well as (LED) mirrors and painted glass.
"It takes a lot of knowledge and experience to provide the correct glazing for each application. When the construction consortium of BESIX and J.P. van Eesteren commissioned Alkondor to execute the façade of the Grotius residential towers in The Hague, the façade builder contacted us to help think about the structure and thickness of the glazing, which had to meet stringent (noise) requirements, partly due to its application in high-rise buildings," explains commercial technical consultant Stephan Bremmers. "We took care of the engineering and eventually delivered 15,000 m² of insulating glass with Saint-Gobain's PLANITHERM SUN solar heat-resistant coating, with a light transmission of 72% and a solar factor (g) of 0.38. In addition to our own production of insulating glass, as an independent supplier of glass we have a wide network of production partners. For these residential towers, we produced everything in-house. An important aspect was to get the glazing just-in-time at the right location on a construction site in the center of The Hague. Good coordination with the contractor was crucial in this regard. We supported in the development of customized trestles to transport the glass smoothly and safely on the construction site."