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 300 m² 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 19 mm cantilevered glass fins to support two rows of glass.
Pilkington Planar™ SPECIFICATION
Marks & Spencer Dublin
Roof lights
60 m² of Pilkington Planar™ glazing comprising:
Outer pane: 10 mm Pilkington Planar Activ™
Air space: 16 mm
Inner pane: 13.5 mm Pilkington Optilam K Glass™
Laminated Glass fin construction:
Outer Leaf: 10 mm Pilkington Optifloat™ Clear THS
Inter Layer: 1.5 mm
Inner Leaf:10 mm Pilkington Optifloat™ Clear THS
Vertical glazing (Grafton Street elevation)
80 m² of Pilkington Planar™ glazing comprising:
Outer pane: 10 mm Pilkington Suncool™
Air space: 16 mm
Inner pane: 6 mm Pilkington K Glass™
Toughened Glass fin construction:
19 mm Pilkington Optifloat™ Clear THS
Marks and Spencer Belfast
Front façade
300 m² of double glazed Pilkington Planar™ comprising:
Outer pane: 12 mm Pilkington Optiwhite™
Air space: 16 mm
Inner pane: 6 mm Pilkington K Glass™