The Hatchcroft building at Middlesex University has had an education in construction, thanks to Pilkington Planar Activ™ Sun, which provides excellent solar-control properties, helping to keep internal temperatures cooler in the summer, whilst maintaining excellent, neutral light transmittance as well as giving a 1.2 mid pane ‘U’ value for the glazed walls. The Pilkington Planar glass system, combines excellent thermal-control properties and a self-cleaning coating, providing an external glass envelope for the south-facing front stair tower in the newly-built teaching block.
Notably, the glass helped the building achieve an excellent BREEAM rating – an environmental measurement of the individual components that make up a building and designed to help construction professionals understand and mitigate the environmental impact of their projects. It takes into account the energy cost, environmental implications of the raw material construction and running and recycling costs, in order to give an overall picture of the sustainability of the building. The Hatchcroft building, previously known as the Teaching and Research Building, opened in September 2008 and is a crucial part of the university campus, comprising lecture theatres and state-of-the-art research laboratories.