Aluminium and Glass
Curtain Walling Installation and Fabrication
Curtain walling in aluminium and glass is becoming increasingly popular in property development and architecture, and London Shop Fronts provide experienced curtain walling installation and fabrication for projects around the UK.
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What is curtain walling?
Curtain walling is a form of external cladding that is used on the exterior of buildings. It’s non-structural and its main purpose is to help protect the internal part of the building from the elements (including extreme weather conditions, such as seismic loads), reducing building maintenance needs and creating beautiful glass frontages.
Curtain walling can be used to create a variety of finished looks, ranging from modern to traditional interpretation. It can be made from a variety of materials, including glass and aluminium, and can often improve a building’s energy efficiency. It’s typically seen on more modern buildings and high rises that want to benefit from as much natural light as possible.
London Shop Fronts Curtain Walling Products
Working with experts to fabricate and install your curtain walling system is important because mistakes and any necessary changes can be very costly indeed.
At London Shop Fronts, we pride ourselves on offering customised solutions with flexible designs, which have been extensively tested to meet Curtain Walling and Cladding Technology (CWCT) standards, including for air permeability, water tightness (static and dynamic) and wind resistance.
Some of the benefits of working with London Shop Fronts on your curtain walling project include:
- 3,600 pascals safety
- Standardised, slim 50mm sight-lines
- Can be used for sheer, high-rise as well as barrel-vault, sloped or inclined façades
- Thermal efficiency with 50mm profiles, and custom profiles available on request
- Sound reduction of up to 2 decibels – ideal for busy city centres
- Full range of glazing adaptors, gaskets and pressure plates to provide glazing options of 3mm to 50mm
- Concealed vents to maintain sight-lines
- Roof glazing with pitched, sloped, barrelled or pyramid options
What Materials Can Be Used for Curtain Walling Systems and External Cladding?
As an experienced curtain wall fabrication and installation company, we can help you create a custom curtain walling system to specification, ensuring that it will meet your exact requirements. Plus, the fact that our end-to-end process is UK-based, including factory fabrication, means that you can enjoy your new facade sooner rather than later.
Two of the most popular materials for curtain walling are aluminium and glass. London Shop Fronts has fabricated both of these in our UK factor for over 25 years. Both glass and aluminium are lightweight and strong materials, ideal for use in curtain walling installation projects of any size.
Aluminium
Aluminium is a durable, low-maintenance material with an almost unlimited life expectancy – it doesn’t age, needs no protection from UV light and has minimal effect from sodium chloride exposure, making it ideal for coastal buildings.
It can also be powder-coated or anodised in a wide variety of colours, enhancing its natural durability and allowing you to meet any branding requirements.
Glass
Glass is a very popular choice because of the benefits of natural light. Specialist glazing is required for curtain walling to ensure that the finished curtain walling system is weather-resistant and secure. It also creates a sleek, modern look, improving your business’s external profile.
We also use toughened glass in shop fronts due to its reliability, durability and strength. If you are looking to build office blocks with installed curtain walling, why not extend the modern, glass look inside the building with our glass partition walls?
Curtain Walling and Sustainability
We know that many businesses are setting themselves environmental and sustainability goals, and our aluminium curtain walling is the perfect choice for the eco-conscious company.
Two-thirds of the energy required to extract aluminium is supplied by renewable sources, including hydroelectric power, and the final product is not only recyclable, but the recycling process can be carried out indefinitely without impairing the quality of the metal.
Re-smelting aluminium saves up to 95% of the energy needed to produce the primary product, and around 70% of all aluminium is recycled at the end of its product life. It’s not only the most cost-effective material to recycle, but the recycled product is of a very high quality.
Curtain Walling Installation Methods
The two most frequently-used methods for installing curtain walling are the stick system and the ladder frame system.
The former is typically regarded as the fast-track method and involves assembling and installing both the framing and glazing on-site, usually from the centre out. In stick building, the transoms can be square or step cut.
Ladder frame installation is where the curtain walling is fabricated off-site and installed on-site in modules or ladder frames. This provides a true mullion drained system.
Conditions
Curtain walling can be installed in either the propped or hung conditions; the propped condition involves fixing the walling from floor level and building up, while the hung condition involves fixing the walling at the top of the building and hanging it down the façade.
Get in touch with us today to discuss your curtain walling installation and fabrication requirements.
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