Recent refurbishments at Marks & Spencer stores in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have been transformed by Pilkington Planar™. Located in Dublin and Belfast, both shops make extensive use of the glazing in recent refurbishments. Each project had its own special architectural requirements that took full advantage of the system’s impressive design possibilities, which allow the creation of a glass envelope for any building, with frameless facades on any plane.
The Dublin store is on the pedestrianised Grafton Street, one of the busiest in the city. The renovation made use of the top floor of the building, for the first time, utilising glazing to create a new bright and airy restaurant. Installers Wexford Viking Glass fitted the glass to a newly constructed steel frame, including space for two roof lights, for which Pilkington Planar Activ™ self cleaning glass was specified.
Pilkington Planar Activ™ was specified for the roof lights because access is very difficult for cleaners. The roof light glazing was installed at night to minimise disruption to shoppers.
In Belfast, the extension and remodelling of the department store uses 300m2 of Pilkington Planar™ glazing to bring it into the 21st Century. The strength of the frameless structural glazing system is demonstrated in the design, which uses double length 19mm cantilevered glass fins to support two rows of glass.
Pilkington Planar™ SPECIFICATION
Marks & Spencer Dublin
Roof lights
60m2 of Pilkington Planar™ glazing comprising:
Outer pane: 10mm Pilkington Planar Activ™
Air space: 16mm
Inner pane: 13.5mm Pilkington K Glass™
Laminated Glass fin construction:
Outer Leaf: 10mm Pilkington Optifloat™ T Plus Clear
Inter Layer: 1.5mm
Inner Leaf:10mm Pilkington Optifloat™ T Plus Clear
Vertical glazing (Grafton Street elevation)
80m2 of Pilkington Planar™ glazing comprising:
Outer pane: 10mm Pilkington Suncool™ High Performance
Air space: 16mm
Inner pane: 6mm Pilkington K Glass™ inner
Toughened Glass fin construction:
19mm Pilkington Optifloat™ T Plus
Marks and Spencer Belfast
Front façade
300m2 of double glazed Pilkington Planar™ comprising:
Outer pane: 12mm Pilkington Optiwhite™
Air space: 16mm
Inner pane: 6mm Pilkington K Glass™