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| Glass balustrades at Europe’s largest urban shopping mall  Around 2,000 free-standing panels of laminated glass, containing DuPont SentryGlas structural interlayer, are used to form balustrades at the new Westfield London shopping centre, Europe's largest urban shopping mall, which opened for business on 30 October 2008. 20 percent thinner than other glass laminate constructions of equivalent performance, the glass balustrades, manufactured by UK architectural glass supplier Kite Glass, provide a safe and secure shopping experience for all visitors to Westfield, while affording them unobstructed views of the more than 280 shops located there. The Westfield London shopping centre, a £1.7 billion development designed, constructed and operated by the Westfield Group, boasts 150,000 square meters (1.6 million square feet) of space over two floors – the equivalent of 30 soccer pitches. In addition to its retail units, Westfield London will contain a cinema (due to open in late 2009), nearly 50 restaurants, leisure space and a library – and is expected to attract over 20 million visitors per year. Once inside the vast shopping complex, they will discover an atmosphere of spaciousness and calm, created in part by the influences of nature – water, light and earthy materials are recurrent themes in its architecture – and also by the integration of wide and expansive malls for a stress-free shopping experience. It was as a reflection of the architectural vision for Westfield London, that CMF Ltd. of Feltham, Middlesex (UK), conceived the transparent glass balustrades and handrails for the first floor of the centre, its staircases and sections of the external causeway leading to Westfield London. The glass panels for the balustrades were supplied by Kite Glass of Weybridge, Surrey, a leading supplier and installer of toughened and laminated architectural glass. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |