Warmer and quieter educational offices for the Master and Staff

74 Trumpington Street, including the new educational offices of the Master (Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury) of Pembroke College, has been upgraded with curved on plan and standard secondary glazing to create quieter and warmer office environments, in line with the College’s overall sustainability plan.
 
Situated on the corner of Trumpington Street and Mill Lane, in the university city of Cambridge, three neighbouring buildings forming part of Pembroke College’s estate have recently been renovated. One of which is the Grade II Listed Kenmare House designed and built by James Essex c.1760, a prolific constructor in Cambridge, with many of his buildings now making up the University’s Estate.
 
Pleasance Hookham and Nix were contracted by the College to put the architectural plans together of how the buildings would be reconfigured. The rooms on the front elevation, overlooked an extremely busy thoroughfare with tour buses and cars passing in front. Due to its Listing, the original single pane windows had to be retained, so a solution to combat the noise ingress and thermal inefficiencies had to be sought.
 
One window in particular posed a bigger challenge. The main view out of the corner of the building on Mill Lane, was an ornate large curved on plan sliding sash. Selectaglaze has just finished developing a new Series 25 vertical sliding curved on plan unit which proved to be the best solution, as it matched the sightlines of the original perfectly.
 
Over 60 units were installed throughout the buildings. On the front elevation, where noise ingress was a larger concern, the secondary glazing was installed with a larger cavity, to create the sound insulation. On the rear of the building the glazing was mainly for thermal and one large window overlooking a flat roof, had a Secured by Design unit installed for added security.
 
A range of styles were included in the design including, Series 10 – 2 and 3 pane horizontal sliders, Series 20 vertical sliders and series 45 side hung casements (plus more). Some windows had arched heads, so special timber grounds were produced, with a great deal of scribing and care taken during installation on site. The most demanding in terms of time and precision was making the curved unit fit, with its specially designed timber sub frame.
 
What could have been a very complicated job was made easier with collaborative working from the outset with the architects and Robert Griggs, Pembroke College Facilities Manager.

https://www.selectaglaze.co.uk