safety

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Building regulations

laminated glass

toughened glass

 

Building Regulations

Building regulations Part N (England and Wales), Part P (Scotland), Part V (Northern Ireland) and BS6262:  Part 4 give advice on the use of glass in the main critical locations of doors, side panels and low level glazing.

Glazing In Doors

Glazing in doors within 1500mm from floor level:

Minimum Class C to BS 6206 and marked according to BS 6206.  If the smaller dimension of the pane is greater than 900mm it shall be:

Minimum Class B to BS 6206 and marked according to BS6206
 

Glazing Adjacent Doors

Glazing in doors which is wholly or partially within 300mm of the edge of the door and which is also wholly or partially within 1500mm from floor level shall be:

Minimum Class C to BS 6206 and marked according to BS 6206.  If the smaller dimension of the pane is greater than 900mm it shall be:

Minimum Class B to BS 6206 and marked according to BS6206

Low Level Glazing

(Excluding guarding) not covered by (1) or (2). Glazing which is wholly or partially within 800mm

from floor level shall be:

Minimum Class C to BS 6206 and marked according to BS 6206.

Note:  Insulating Units.  Where an insulating unit can only be impacted from one side, then only the

pane on that side needs to comply.

There are some exceptions to these requirements for safety glass, based on the robustness of

annealed glass:

▪  Panes having the smaller dimension, less than 250mm and of area less than 0.5m², may be minimum 6mm (nominal) thick glass not complying with BS 6206.

▪  Panes forming parts of fronts (but no other locations) to shops, showrooms, offices,

factories and public buildings, supported on all edges, may be of equivalent robustness in glass

not complying to BS 6206

  8mm < 1100 x 1100mm

10mm < 2250 x 2250mm

12mm < 3000 x 4500mm

15mm (and thicker) - no limit
 

▪  Panes protected by a suitably designed carrier

 

Building Regulations apply only to buildings for which Building Regulations Approval is required,

i.e. to new buildings or to major structural alterations to old buildings.  Small (<30m²) extensions,

like conservatories, are excluded from the Building Regulations (England & Wales) requirements.
 
BS 6262: Part 4: 1994
The publications of the BS 6262 'Glazing for Buildings': Part 4 'Safety Related to Human Impact'
mirrors Building Regulations Part N (England & Wales), but extends the critical locations to
cover bathing areas and gymnasia, where advice is to use minimum Class C safety glass.
It also contains further explanation and guidance.
 

Laminated Glass

Laminated glass consists of one or more panes of glass and/or plastics attached to and separated from each other by means of interlayer materials.

Laminated glass is usually made from annealed glass, although it can also be manufactured using toughened, heat strengthened or wired glass.  It is no stronger than the glass it is made from and cracks easily.  However, when laminated glass breaks, the glass fragments tend to adhere to the interlayer material.  Although the glass itself may be annealed glass, on breaking, any sharp cutting edges are not generally exposed.

The performance of the glass depends very much on the type of interlayer, and there are many different types.

The most common interlayer is PVB (polyvinylbutyral) sheet, which usually sticks to the glass very well and produces a uniform thickness, high energy absorbing interlayer.

Glass Systems purchase laminated glass from Europe's major glass producers.  It is made using a PVB interlayer and is available in clear, antisun, hardcoat low E and soft coat low E.

All laminated glass conforms to BS6206 Class B

Toughened Glass

Toughened glass (sometimes called tempered glass) is produced by heating annealed glass to approximately 620°C, at which point it begins to soften.  The surfaces of this heated glass are then cooled rapidly.  The technique creates a state of high compression in the outer surfaces of the glass and, as a result, although most other characteristics remain unchanged, the bending strength is increased by a factor of up to five times that of annealed glass. 

Glass System's sister company, Vizor Tempered Glass Ltd, supply all our toughened glass requirements, all of which are toughened to Class A BS 6206.:

Established in 1996, in 2003 Vizor Tempered Glass added a fourth furnace - a Tamglass Pro-Convection™ - capable of toughening soft coated glass.  This new furnace alongside the existing three EFCO furnaces, gives Vizor the capacity to toughen in excess of 30,000m2 of glass per week.