Smashing trends

Emirates Glass supplied glass for the formula 1 grand stand at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
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How are glass manufacturers responding to the growing demands for sustainable buildings and what can they expect from 2010? ConstructionWeekOnline speaks to industry experts to find out.

Glass is one of the most popular choices of cladding system used by architects across the GCC. You only have to drive down Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road or glance at the skyscrapers of Saudi Arabia to notice that.

But, while it is visually pleasing, glass remains the greatest contributor to heat build up inside a building.

“The heat doesn’t come through the wall, the roof or the floor; it comes through the window, so glass is critical,” says Emirates Glass technical consultant Arthur Millwood.

So why do so many architects choose this material as their choice of cladding system? According to Millwood, it all comes down to visual amenity.

“We all like daylight,” he explains. “And, the fact of the matter is that, even today, the combination of aluminium and glass is still a very cost effective way to cover a building.”

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There is a growing need to design buildings according to green building standards and with the forth-coming revision of Dubai Municipality’s (DM) Code of Practice for the use of Glass for Windows, as well as the Emirates Green Building Council’s imminent green building guidelines for the UAE, 2010 can expect even stricter principles.

The DM is expected to adopt Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) as the prime indicator of the solar-resistance of window-glass. SHGC is the actual percentage of the amount of solar energy transmitted through and reflected off a piece of glass.

“Shading Coefficient is now becoming out-dated, since SHGC (an American concept) is being adopted worldwide as a more meaningful indicator of glass-performance when exposed to the sun,” says Millwood.

So is it green versus a glamorous, cost-effective system or can we have the best of both worlds? Swiss Middle East, which handles the design of building envelopes, agrees with the latter.

“We should maybe reduce the use of glass [in a building’s outer layer] to 30% or 40%,” says Swiss general manager Mohammed Enany. “We like to use glass but not a huge amount.”