Specialist Glass Products, a Yorkshire-based leader in glass manufacturing, has partnered with Vision Architectural Glazing to deliver a bespoke glass installation for the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. The project was necessary to restore and safeguard the historic glasshouses, as their original glazing had deteriorated due to weathering and no longer met modern safety and performance standards.
Vision Architectural Glazing appointed Specialist Glass Products to supply custom-made glass panels as part of its consultancy, project management and installation role for the botanical glasshouse.
Specialist Glass Products manufactured and supplied 3,500 curved panels and 3,000 flat panels of 6.8mm Pilkington Optiwhite glass, each laminated with Trosifol SentryGlas Natural UV interlayer. The glass was installed throughout the structure to provide clarity and protection, and the SentryGlas interlayer offers increased strength, UV stability and durability.
Over half of the glass used on this project was curved, a defining feature of the Botanic Garden design that demonstrates the specialised manufacturing capabilities required to achieve it.
Jeremy Moore, Construction Director at Vision Architectural Glazing, commented on the collaboration: “We needed a fast turnaround and precise fabrication to match the existing old iron framework of the building. The primary Structure was first 3D scanned and existing glazed openings templated to enable each new glass unit to be cut and laminated to exact measurements. We worked closely with SGP to meet these tight requirements and keep the project running smoothly.”
Specialist Glass Products managed the process from cutting and lamination through to quality checks and delivery.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh delivers world-leading plant science, conservation and education programmes, and its mission is ‘to explore, conserve and explain the world of plants’.
Andrew Taylor, Managing Director at Specialist Glass Products, added: “It was a privilege to help bring this landmark building back to life. Working with Vision Architectural Glazing on such an iconic site shows what can be achieved when expertise and modern glass technology come together.”
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