Curtain walling
Curtain walling
Aluminium curtain walling, glazed screens and entrance facades, surveyed, supplied and installed on commercial refurbishments and new openings.
Scope of works
A facade that carries its own weight, the weather and the building's movement.
Curtain walling is a non-structural envelope hung off the building frame. It carries its own dead load, the wind load on the elevation and whatever the structure does underneath it, and it drains itself. That last part is what separates a curtain wall from a big window: water that gets past the outer seal is meant to, and the system takes it back out at the cill.
We survey, supply and install it on replacement facades, refurbishments and new openings, with doors, opening vents, insulated panels and louvres worked into the grid rather than added to it. Our most recent scheme of this type was the Bletchley rail depot refurbishment.
Specification
Curtain walling, to your specification.
- System
- Stick system, specified to the job rather than tied to one system, with the mullion and transom grid set out and assembled on site.
- Wind load
- Wind load calculated for the elevation as part of the design.
- U-value
- As low as 0.9 W/m²K, depending on the system and the glazing specified.
- Glazing method
- Capped systems, with the cap profile specified to the elevation.
- Integrated units
- Doorsets, opening vents, AOV units, spandrel and insulated panels, and ventilation louvres within the grid.
- Finish
- Powder coated to any RAL, dual colour available.
We specify curtain walling across more than one system, chosen for the job rather than for a supplier relationship, so treat these figures as a guide to what the systems reach. Send us the elevation and we will confirm the numbers in writing against your drawings before they go into a schedule.
Scope
What we take on within a curtain walling package.
Screens and elevations
Stick-built mullion and transom grids across full elevations, atria, stairwells and entrance bays.
Doors inside the grid
Commercial doorsets, side screens and toplights set into the curtain wall rather than butted against it.
Panels, vents and louvres
Insulated infill panels, opening vents, AOV units and ventilation louvres carried in the same framing.
Replacement facades
Stripping and replacing a failed or tired facade on a building that stays in use behind it.
Setting out
The grid is fixed before anything is made.
Mullion centres, transom heights, door positions and glass sizes are one decision, not four. Move a transom late and the glass schedule, the panel sizes and the door head all move with it. We set the grid out from your drawings, or survey the opening and set it out from the building, and confirm it before manufacture.
- Mullion and transom centres
- Door and vent positions
- Glass schedule confirmed before order
Interfaces
Head, cill, jamb and drainage are where a facade is made watertight.
A curtain wall drains internally and discharges at the cill, so the details where it meets the structure do more work than the ones you can see. We set out fixing points, movement allowance, cill and jamb interfaces and drainage paths against the existing structure before anything is fixed to it.
- Fixing points and movement
- Drainage and weathering
- Existing structure surveyed first
Project proof
Recent curtain walling projects.
Curtain walling to the hall, St Albans School
A Smart MC600 Plus curtain wall replacing an outdated timber system in a school hall, with a fire exit door, finger guards and blackout film for a room used as a performance space.
Curtain walling, windows and doors, Bletchley rail depot
Sixty-five aluminium windows, six doors and a curtain wall screen for the refurbishment of a working rail depot at Bletchley.
Common settings
Where curtain walling usually goes.
Survey, access and the existing building decide the final route. These are the settings this work usually goes into.
Related commercial services
Work that usually comes with curtain walling.
Common questions
Curtain walling, asked and answered.
What U-value does your curtain walling achieve?
As low as 0.9 W/m²K, depending on the system and the glazing specified. We specify curtain walling across more than one system, so treat that as a guide to what the systems reach rather than a fixed figure, and send us the elevation so we can confirm it in writing against your drawings.
Which glazing method do you use?
Capped systems, with the cap profile specified to the elevation.
How is the curtain walling assembled?
As a stick system: the mullion and transom grid is set out and assembled on site, glazed with capped systems and the cap profile specified to the elevation. The grid is set out from your drawings, or from a survey of the opening, and confirmed before manufacture.
What can be built into the curtain walling grid?
Doorsets, opening vents, AOV units, spandrel and insulated panels, and ventilation louvres, all carried in the same framing rather than added to it.
Can you replace a facade on a building that stays in use?
Yes. Stripping and replacing a failed or tired facade with the building occupied behind it is one of the four things this package covers, alongside screens and elevations, doors inside the grid, and panels, vents and louvres.
How is wind load handled?
Wind load is calculated for the elevation as part of the design, and the grid is set out from your drawings or from a survey of the opening and confirmed before manufacture.
What we can put on a pre-qualification questionnaire.
- Constructionline Gold Pre-qualified for public and private sector tendering.
- SSIP accredited Health and safety assessed under the Safety Schemes in Procurement umbrella.
- DBS-checked operatives For schools, care settings and any site where the check is a condition of access.
Commercial enquiry
Send us the curtain walling brief.
Drawings, a window schedule, elevations or site photographs are all useful, and none of them is required. A postcode and a description of the building is enough to get a sensible answer back.
- Phone lines are open 24/7.
- The office team picks up drawings and schedules during working hours.
- commercial@fensterglazing.com