Team ESG
So why are team ESG doing this? Yes, they are all crazy but they all wanted to raise some money for a very worthy cause – Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.
So please dig deep and donate now at www.justgiving.com/esgglass
Tags: Essex safety glass, men's health survival of the fittest. ESG. Team ESG
Back painted glass
Capturing and immortalising a perfect image is a challenge for any artist, and to some extent, it’s also the mission that faces the architect – devise the ideal building concept, work out how it can be realised, and perhaps more importantly, select the materials that will ensure that it stays that way for centuries. A tall order, even if it isn’t a tall building.
Artists differ widely, working in a whole raft of materials; paint, metal, ceramics, stone, plastics, acrylic, pottery, wood, textiles and yes, glass. Architects often favour particular materials too, though it’s fair to say that most would include glass in their list of favourites.
These days we can actually use glass to assist in that most tricky of endeavours – realising a great design and preserving it for perpetuity. The selection of materials that can be used to create a building has never been wider, but glass is still one of the most important, especially now that it can offer so many more characteristics.
By laminating with technical interlayers, we can provide fire resistance, impact resistance, ballistic resistance, instant privacy and high security as well as its basic characteristics of being scuff resistant, dust resistant and waterproof – if need be, all in one panel. In terms of adding colour and other design elements, this is invaluable as the interlayer can be joined by any number of added extras to introduce colour and design.
Using the art of encapsulation, as it is known, we can place small or slender items of any medium between layers of glass, sealing them in, and preserving their beauty for ever and making unique, bespoke, designer laminated glass. This can include colour (and that itself encompasses everything from transparent, coloured Vanceva® interlayers to solid blocks of colour or a corporate logo); but it can mean much, much more. It could also include natural items such as skeleton leaves, graphic designs (full colour printed manifestation), films, metal fixings, LED lights, fabrics, paper or wood; any material with which an artist might like to work; and a few others besides. The only real limits are the imagination of the designer and the size of the object to be encapsulated.
Panels prepared by the laminating method can be used in a multiplicity of ways, especially when created using toughened glass, which is up to five times stronger than ordinary annealed glass. Designer laminate can make up screens, doors, furniture, tiles and splash backs, work tops, signage, table tops, corporate art, exhibition displays, lighting, partitioning, balustrades, stair treads and flooring.
We could say that this only scratches the surface of what can be achieved; but that’s the whole point, it won’t scratch or fade or spoil – it will stay as beautiful as the day we encapsulate it for you.
Now that has to appeal to any artistic soul – and all the practical ones too.
Tags: back painted glass, Colour, esg, laminated glass, Lamination, RAL, screen printed glass, stained glass, Vanceva
Now that ESG Polyvision™, the largest sized privacy glass, has hit the UK, leading glass processors, ESG, have seen a demand for samples from architects and specifiers.
For a cost of £200, which is refunded upon receipt of the first order, ESG are sending out samples of the glass, which is competitively priced to meet the demand for refurbishment projects.
Samples can be ordered by simply visiting the ‘Let’s Get Technical’ section of the newly launched ESG Polyvision™ website (www.esgpolyvision.co.uk), which also provides a thorough overview of current trends in the usage of privacy glass.
Tags: ACPO, Electric Privacy Glass, ESG Polyvision, ESG UK, Essex safety glass, LCD Privacy glass, LCD Privacy GlassGlass, security glass, smart glass
See just how tough our ESG Secure LPS1270 Glass is!
The team at ESG had so much fun making this video at ESG HQ last month. Watch how easy it is to penetrate anti bandit glass commonly used in shopfronts and then see how difficult it is to get through our ESG Secure LPS1270.
Tags: esg, ESG Bullet Resistant Glass, ESG Polyvision, ESG Secure LPS1270 Intruder Resistant Glass, Essex safety glass, LCD Glass, LCD Privacy glass, linked in, Loss Prevention Certification Board, LPS1270, LPS1270 standard, Privacy glass
View our Certificate here
ESG are proud to announce that we have passed the qualification process for SentryGlass® by Dupont™ and now can offer it to you our valued customers. So what makes this interlayer so great?
DuPont™ SentryGlas® ionoplast interlayers help create lighter, safer, more structural glass that can stand up to greater loads and higher threat levels. Taking advantage of the interlayer’s extra rigidity and toughness, structural glass systems — from floors and stairs to balcony rails and minimally supported glass canopies — can enjoy new design freedom.
The SentryGlas® interlayer is five times stronger and up to 100 times stiffer than conventional laminating materials. With this kind of strength the glass can be a more active structural element in the building envelope, opening up design possibilities that didn’t exist before. Besides its strength, SentryGlas® retains its clarity – even after years of service. Unlike other interlayers, SentryGlas® is much less vulnerable to moisture exposure or yellowing over time.
Limitless possibilities
Some of the many DuPont™ SentryGlas® applications include:
Visit us at www.esguk.co.uk for more information
Tags: ACPO, Ballistic, BRE, certification, EN356, ESG Bullet Resistant Glass, Essex safety glass, impact testing, laminated glass, LPS1270, Sentryglass
We live up to our reputation of protecting people and property with security coming as standard with ESG Pyrotech™.
We are delighted to announce that recent impact testing for our ESG Pyrotech™ 630 and 660 to EN12600 with Wintech Engineering achieved a 1(C)1 (Class 1) rating.
This surpasses laminated fire resistant glass of a similar thickness which often holds the much lower Class 2 rating.
Tags: esg pyrotech, ESG Secure LPS1270 Intruder Resistant Glass, ESG UK, Essex safety glass, fire glass, fire resistant glass, LPS1270, pyranova, security glass
With rising crime against property as aptly demonstrated during the student protests at Millbank Tower and more recently at this weekend’s London riots in Tottenham, Enfield, Islington and Walthamstow, Scott Sinden, Managing Director of glass processors, ESG, takes a look at how the glazing industry is responding and the likely impact on today’s architect.
It is not the purpose of this post to examine whether the built environment in Tottenham or Millbank should have been better able to resist damage. It does, however, bring up an interesting point; in light of such extreme physical damage should businesses and organisations reassess their level of safety glass as a precautionary measure?
The answer is almost certainly yes. The need for increased security measures at the design stage of a project is a trend quickly gathering pace across various sectors. One only needs to take a look at some of the schemes emerging as a result of an increase in safety concerns. As I speak, the NHS are working in partnership with the Design Council in a self-described ‘design rethink’ in terms of looking at the disruption caused by violence and aggression towards staff in their A&E departments up and down the country. Similarly, forums are emerging specifically to address safety and security requirements for the Retail and Health & Beauty sectors and that’s even before one looks at the ramifications of counter-terrorism.
But, with accountability squarely on the architect and specifier to make the right choice in glazing product not just from an aesthetic but security point of view, the need for practical unbiased guidance from glass processors will be fundamental. Similarly, guidance from organisations taking a proactive role in pushing the need for ‘designing-out crime’ is advice today’s architect cannot afford to ignore.
Take advice from the Authorities: It always pays to consider security implications at the earliest possible opportunity. Initiatives such as Secured by Design, launched by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), which is aimed at designing crime out of the built environment by introducing products which inherently resist deliberate attack, can be a useful reference point. Glazing that complies with the crime prevention standards of ‘Secured By Design’, offer the architect peace of mind that the product reaches specific technical standards required under the scheme.
Similarly, RIBA are urging practitioners to be better equipped to think about ‘designing-in’ security features from the outset, within their 22-page document guiding architects and planners on designing for counter-terrorism. In particular, it takes a look at ways in which professionals are responding to the tricky challenge of creating secure spaces that are both open and welcoming to the public. The document examines damage limitation through materials used, including blast and ballistic-resistant glass and the deployment of glazed facades to limit intrusion. The emphasis is clearly being placed on the need to take a serious look at the types of glass used; especially since over 90% of all injuries from a bomb blast are the result of flying glass. Of course, it’s a fine balancing act delivering good design that creates a sense of security without a siege mentality. RIBA are absolutely right in the sense that it is important our built environment continues to demonstrate a commitment to an open and inclusive society and that security measures should not jeopardise that objective.
New, highly technical glass products can provide enhanced security, privacy, added personal safety, sound attenuation, and even a combination of all these things. This has given the specifier far more scope to solve several problems at once, without compromising on aesthetics. However, with a greater degree of choice in security glass, the need for advice is even more essential. In fact, RIBA guidelines on ‘Designing for Counter-terrorism’ states ‘undertaking detailed design of such features should involve specialist advice from security advisers and engineers who can provide analysis to ensure a design or product is effective against the identified risk.’
Enhanced security: The introduction of the Loss Prevention Certification Board’s (LPCB) new security glass standard LPS 1270, represents a major step forward for the security glazing industry. LPCB, which is part of BRE Global, has launched the new glass standard to enhance the current level of security offered by glass tested to European Standard BS EN 356:2000 (Glass in building, Security glazing, Testing and classification of resistance against manual attack). For the first time, this enables glazing systems to offer the independently proven higher levels of security compatible with LPS 1175, LPCB’s leading standard used for medium and high level security products and systems. The standard was developed because the previous method of classifying the attack resistance of security glazing (BS EN 356:2000) was considered to be incompatible with LPS 1175: Issue 7. This was because BS EN 356: 2000 does not classify glass according to its resistance to different levels of attack based on the tools and time available to an intruder. Tests contained within BS EN 356: 2000 do not evaluate how susceptible the glass is to attacks involving the creation of small holes through which locking hardware may be manipulated. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that glazing materials rated to BS EN 356: 2000 could seriously undermine a glazed system’s ability to offer intruder resistance conforming to security ratings under LPS 1175: Issue 7. Understandably, LPS 1270 is already making its mark with ACPO listing it on their Secured By Design website as the preferred standard to test the burglary resistance of security glazing equivalent to the building products in which the glass is situated.
It is hoped advances in the latest testing will allow manufacturers and specifiers a greater degree of flexibility when designing-out crime, enabling the glazing industry the opportunity to make its mark in the fight against crime!
Tags: ACPO, Ballistic, BRE, ESG Bullet Resistant Glass, ESG Polyvision, ESG Secure LPS1270 Intruder Resistant Glass, Fire, laminated glass, london riots, looting, Loss Prevention Certification Board, LPS1270, Police, Secured by Design, Smartglass
