Towards a comfortable, safe and healthy work environment

Employers are taking numerous initiatives to increase the health and safety of their employees, raise light and air quality to the highest levels and prevent noise pollution. Not surprisingly, companies where employee well-being is a priority have lower absenteeism, higher productivity and lower employee turnover. Interior Glassolutions B.V.'s glass systems contribute significantly to this.

Working in an open-plan office apparently has many advantages: maximum daylight flows in, employees can easily and quickly make contact with colleagues and square meters are optimally utilized. Yet there is also a downside, knows Geurt Roelofsen, director of Interior Glassolutions B.V.. "In an open-plan office there is often (too) much noise. For example, research by PanelWizard among 1,000 respondents shows that two-thirds (!) of employees in an open-plan office are distracted by ambient noise several times a day. Especially calling (75%) and talking colleagues (72%), ringing telephones (66%) and sound of playing videos (54%) are experienced as very distracting. The consequences are difficulty concentrating (51%), feeling restless (34%) and fatigue (27%). Our glass systems combat this. Thanks to our all-glass walls and doors, daylighting, optimal sightlines and mutual interaction are maintained,
while noise pollution is no longer an issue. Importantly, our glass systems also contribute to a healthy, (corona)safe and hygienic working environment."

Healthy and corona safe working environment

"A recent survey by HR service provider Visma Raet shows that almost two-thirds of home workers are eager to go back to the office," Roelofsen said. "Employees miss the contact with colleagues and the connection with their company. In order to return to the permanent workplace, however, the necessary precautions must be taken. Our full-glass walls and doors respond excellently to this. With these systems, mutual interaction and protected walking routes and workstations go hand in hand. In addition, the glass systems can be easily cleaned. Even when using acoustic or colored films and/or enameled glass."

Custom durable glass solutions

"Although our glass solutions are not always transparent, our services are crystal clear," Roelofsen emphasizes. "In our projects, we like to act jointly with architects, clients and contractor parties. We delve into the complexity of a project and translate this into customized glass solutions. In doing so, we explicitly take into account the aesthetic and building-technical wishes of the architect and client, as well as laws, standards and wishes regarding sound insulation, fire protection, burglary prevention and sustainability. Together with our French co-owner Saint-Gobain Glass, we recently mapped out the environmental effects (life cycle analysis/LCA) of our glass products, from extraction (raw materials/source), manufacture and processing through to transport, use and waste disposal (cradle to grave). We have also immersed ourselves in sustainability methodologies such as BREEAM, LEED and WELL. This has led to beautiful WELL projects in Son (new HumanTotalCare building) and Amsterdam (new Booking.com building). Here, among other things, we have supplied and installed all-glass walls and doors with sound insulation of up to 60 dB (!), including hygienic door openers. The sound insulation of the various products has been demonstrated in Peutz's independent acoustic laboratory."