An innovative new residential property built on Passivhous principles in Devon, located on the site of a former walled garden within a classic Georgian country house estate, utilises Promat SYSTEMGLAS® Celare fire resistant glazing system from fire, thermal and acoustic solutions specialist Promat UK.
The contemporary house, named “The Walled Garden” was designed by McLean Quinlan architects for its self-building owners, and achieved planning permission under the “Paragraph 55” route for exceptional house designs. The goal to deliver a 21st century standard, highly sustainable property which sits comfortably on this historic rural site has both challenged convention and provides a model for future developments of this kind. The project was constructed by Goulden & Sons, a well-established and award-winning company, who are a Promat-approved SYSTEMGLAS® installer.
A single storey, flat roofed house, complete with 100 sq. m basement which takes advantage of the sloping site, provides around 300 sq. m of living space on the main level, with four bedrooms and an open plan area divided into various zones. The external design of the house reflects its sitting next to a classic walled kitchen garden, with a glass roofed courtyard-style room at its centre, and a “virtual path” running right through the house along the line of the former garden path.
With the aim of maximising natural daylight, the design incorporates a number of full height modern slim floor to ceiling windows. Created using the SYSTEMGLAS® Celare glazing system, and installed by Promat approved installer Goulden & Sons, these are part of an important feature within a thermally superior building envelope constructed using advanced SIPS panels to meet the strict requirements of Passivhaus design, and with a fire rating of 30 minutes (EI30). With the fire-resistant PROMATECT® H calcium silicate frame concealed within the wall construction, SYSTEMGLAS® Celare has maximised daylight by making full use of the available openings for the glass.
By choosing SYSTEMGLAS®, the architect and builder have been able to benefit from Promat UK’s ‘360 degree wheel of assurance’ for fire rated glazing systems. This starts with Promat providing guidance on the right approach at the design and specification stage, and manufacturing consistency is assured with the system produced in-house. This ensures all cutting and processing is completed to the correct standard. Finally, Promat inspects SYSTEMGLAS® on completion to check that it has been installed in accordance with its recommendations and provides a certificate of conformity for installation.
The owners said: “The slim SYSTEMGLAS® windows have certainly added very positively to the impact of the internal design of the house.”
The Celare system used for The Walled Garden provides 30 minutes fire integrity and insulation (EI) protection, allowing for virtually frameless glazing through the use of concealed PROMATECT® H framing. It is one of a range of solutions which also includes Advenerat, the framing for which can be overclad or painted, the timber system Ligna and a steel frame option Ferro.
Ian Cowley, Regional Director (UK and Scandinavia) at Promat UK says: “The Walled Garden is a superb development and a testament to the great vision, passion and hard work of the owners along with the approved installers to bring this to fruition. It has been a pleasure to be part of this project and showcases the important contribution and long term safety assurance that all SYSTEMGLAS® specifications and installations can make.
