The Railway Heritage Trust’s original brief was to restore the original appearance of traditional glazing whilst taking advantage of the benefits of modern glazing materials.
Our Multi-Link-Panel roof glazing panels, glazed for this project with 16mm multiwall polycarbonate, was utilised for the vertical glazing as it most closely resembled the original wired glass and standard patent glazing bars that had been in situ long before being changed to GRP.
Material Selection
Many key heritage projects are supported by funding from the Railway Heritage Trust. In order to meet the heritage requirements at Pontypridd Station, all aspects of the glazing system were considered.
The Glazing
16mm multiwall polycarbonate sheet was selected due to its similar appearance to Georgian wired glass or frosted glass when viewed from a distance. This material was also selected due to its ability to transmit excellent levels of natural light to the area below.
Glazing Bar Centres
In order to preserve/replicate the overall visual appearance of a building’s original glazing, multiwall polycarbonate can be glazed at reduced centres, such as 610mm, should this be desired.
For Pontypridd, 990mm glazing centres were preferred which enabled the use of fewer glazing bars and in turn increased the level of natural light entering the building.
Glazing Bar
Whilst traditional glass glazing bars were almost invariably in a grey mill finish appearance, aluminium is usually polyester powder coated to protect the bars from future oxidation (which can give a chalky effect). Bars can be powder coated to any standard RAL finish.
Many heritage organisations have accepted an alternative colour that perhaps reflects the original building fabric or steelwork. For this station, green was chosen to match the existing steel work.
Additionally our Multi-Link Panel system has a standing seam which closely replicates patent glazing.
The end result is a new light canopy area that is in keeping with the station’s image.
