Transforming buildings with seam-free glass balustrades

Simon Boocock, Managing Director at CR Laurence, explores the growing trend for glass balustrades and explains how they can instantly enhance any building. 

Over the last few years, glass has become synonymous with beautiful, modern architecture. Its ability to elevate a building’s interior and exterior has made toughened glass the material of choice for specifiers looking for safe and practical solutions that will make a high visual impact. At CR Laurence, we are seeing this result in sleek glass balustrades being specified across a wider variety of commercial, residential and leisure settings as clients recognise the functional and aesthetic advantages of seamless expanses of glass.  

Elegant exteriors 

With warmer weather becoming more common, outdoor spaces are increasingly important in the UK. Extending outside can prove profitable for leisure and hospitality venues keen to attract more customers with exteriors that are as elegant as their interiors. Here, glass balustrades open up design possibilities across a variety of settings from zoos, leisure centres and golf clubs, to pubs, restaurants and hotels.  

For specifiers that prioritise safety and stability alongside style and quick, straightforward installation, CR Laurence’s balustrade systems are proving the ultimate choice. It’s why more golf clubs are following St Helens and Bolton’s lead and installing the CRL Posiglaze system at their clubhouses. Using screw-clamp technology to securely lock the glass panels in place, without the need for bulky frames or intrusive fixtures, this system provides the greatest possible adjustment opportunities and allows each panel to be perfectly aligned during, and after, installation.  

Aesthetically, the glass balustrades have had a positive impact on St Helens and Bolton golf clubs, providing members and visitors with uninterrupted views out over the courses while enhancing the exterior of the clubhouses.  

Blending the boundaries 

One of the many benefits of glass balustrades is their ability to extend living spaces and provide a cohesive link between indoors and out. It’s why they have become such a popular feature of high-end hotels and apartments, where beautiful balconies provide coveted outdoor spaces.  

Historically, metal and timber railings were popular choices for developers. However specifiers are increasingly opting for glass balustrades, which offer the same levels of safety and structural integrity but with a much less institutionalised aesthetic. Ideal for maximising the sense of space, glass can really help to make high-rise developments feel more open and less enclosed.  

Safe, secure and providing unobstructed views of the surrounding areas, CR Laurence’s glass balustrade systems have played an instrumental role in a variety of urban  

regeneration projects, including Bellway Homes’ ambitious City Peninsula development in Greenwich, London. Here, more than 160 apartments used CRL Laurence’s innovative TAPER-LOC DRY Glaze Balustrade System, along with base shoe channels to secure the cantilever glass balustrading to the balconies on the apartment blocks. The TAPER-LOC System conforms to BS6180:1999 and BS6399-1:1996 and is more than 50% faster to install than alternative methods, creating fully glazed balconies that provide residents with uninterrupted river and city views. 

Internal solutions 

It’s not just outside spaces that can be enhanced by glass balustrades, with a variety of residential and commercial settings benefitting from them, too. With open plan-living becoming more prevalent and homebuyers looking for spaces that flow seamlessly together, glass balustrades are increasingly being used for stairways and landings. Likewise, they can transform offices, hospitals, schools and a variety of commercial buildings such as shopping centres into light and airy spaces.  

Safe and stylish 

Regardless of where a glass balustrade is being installed, CR Laurence’s hardware ensures that they are as safe as well as stylish. Designed for high-traffic environments, CRL balustrade systems have been rigorously tested to ensure maximum safety with secure fixings that are infinitely durable. With a choice of handrails available to suit every project’s requirements, CR Laurence’s balustrade systems can also be specified without handrails to create a sleek, minimalist, frameless design that will effortlessly elevate interiors and exteriors. 

www.crlaurence.co.uk