Romag supplied a combination of brise soleil louvers, PowerGlaz BIPV louvers and PowerGlaz standard modules to this stunning building situated in the gateway to the City of London and overlooking St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Features :

• Screen printed louvers to architects specification
• Bespoke PowerGlaz louvers feature screen printed ‘dummy’ cells
• BREEAM ‘excellence’ rating
• 20kWp ‘clean’ electricity
• Architect: Michael Aukett Architects
• M.C.: Carillion D&B
• Glazing Sub-contractor: Scheldebouw, Middelburg, Holland
• Accredited PV Installer: Dulas, Powys, Wales

Overlooking St. Paul’s Cathedral, this nine storey office and retail development provides a fitting gateway to the City of London; it is of contemporary design but respects and compliments the historic and inspirational buildings that surround it.

A significant feature of the design are stunning laminated glass brise soliel louvers which provide a decorative, and effective shading devise to the large expanse of glass that surrounds the building. All the louvers were manufactured by Romag and are screen printed to a ‘blue’ colour specified specifically by the architect. The south facing louvers have the added benefit of incorporating PV cells within the laminate to create a functional, but attractive PowerGlaz BIPV array.

For safety reasons, the louvers were laminated with heat strengthened glass and each louver has three holes along the leading edge to allow suspension cables to be bolted to the glass. On the PowerGlaz louvers, it was not possible to fit PV cells where the holes occurred so, to ensure a consistent appearance, ‘dummy’ cells are screen printed where the holes are located. To complete the effect, an anodised aluminium edge trim is bonded to the edge of the glass.

To allow additional solar energy, an array of 60 PowerGlaz SMT 155P standard modules is installed on the roof.

The building has been awarded the top industry rating under the BREEAM guidelines for energy efficiency – an achievement greatly assisted by the inclusion of PowerGlaz capable of generating approximately 17,000kWH of electricity per year at the Cheapside site.