The fourth and largest phase of the prominent Riverside Quarter residential development in Wandsworth, south-west London, has benefitted from a high-performance Dowsil structural glazing silicone sealant. Selected for its performance under testing and exceptional adhesion, the product was supplied to Structural Glazing, which is a regular customer, by The Sherwin Williams Company.
David Hardie, the director in charge of the project for Dane Architectural, said: “This contract – Block 6B – was the largest phase of development at the Wandsworth site for Galliford Try and Frasers Property UK: awarded to us, at a value of over £10m, due to the quality and performance we had delivered on the previous two contracts. The cladding of Block 6B – now named Nine Eastfields by Frasers – involved the manufacture and installation of a modular insulated backing wall for the non-vision areas, installed on the concrete slab edges, as well as curtain walling and glazing.
“This included the installation of 120 balconies with sliding patio doors. The package also encompassed bands of windows, structurally bonded into slimline Schuco frames to minimise the sightlines.”
The glazing was carried out by Telford based Structural Glazing, which claims to be the first UK specialist to undertake the complete structural glazing process within purpose-built factory facilities. David continued: “Structural Glazing provided all of the certification and technical information on the silicone, as part of our technical submissions to the client and architect, CJCT. They did a really good job and Galliford Try is very proud of the whole project.”
Mark Banks, managing director of Structural Glazing, added: “We purchase silicone from The Sherwin Williams Company every month, using it on a range of contracts that are constantly going through our facilities. As we are a Dow Quality Bond customer, Sherwin Williams audits our operations, and, when it comes to project design, for every project we undertake, Sherwin Williams provides us with calculations that will include factors such as wind load, glass size or the glass make up. These calculations define how much silicone we need to use to bond the units. Sherwin Williams will also carry out adhesion tests for us, specific to the type of metal we are bonding to. This, along with the excellent technical support provided by the Sherwin Williams team, are the reasons why we look to work with them on all our projects.
“In the case of the Wandsworth’s Riverside Quarter project, we bonded the Schuco vents, doors and fascia panels on the project; all using Dowsil 993 Structural Glazing Sealant. All of our works were undertaken in our purpose-built factory in Telford.”
Dowsil 993 Structural Glazing Sealant is a two-component neutral curing silicone, specifically developed for structural glazing. It offers ‘excellent’ adhesion to glass, metal and other commonly used construction materials, its makers say. Crucially, it can be employed for bonding to reflective and enamelled glass, as well as anodized or polyester powder painted aluminium. The Sherwin Williams Company offers full specification and technical support to its customers and project teams, together with the reassurance of the Dow Quality Bond scheme.
For more information about Dowsil’s range of sealants and adhesives, visit specification.sherwin-williams.co.uk.
