Windows Replaced By Structura UK At Five-Star Athenaeum Hotel, London A multi-million pound exterior and interior refurbishment of the 5-star, 111bedroom Athenaeum Hotel opposite London‘s Green Park included the replacement and reconfiguration of all the windows in a 30-week programme by Structura UK Ltd, curtain wall engineering specialists. The refurbishment for Ralph Trustees Ltd was undertaken to upgrade the hotel’s energy efficiency and to improve the building’s appearance and interior aesthetic. Using for the first time in the UK Schüco’s AWS 75BS.H1 aluminium profile - finished in a powder coated metallic bronze - Structura UK, principal contractor, designed, manufactured and installed 164 double glazed, 32mm thick, high performance windows and inward opening doors to the hotel’s Piccadilly and Down Street elevations. The side windows of each bay appear fixed, but can be opened for cleaning, and the flat windows have fixed glazing either side of the doors. The glass has a super solar control coating to prevent heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. The existing single glazed, aluminium, vertical pivot and vertical sliding bay windows, and aluminium, horizontal sliding flat windows did not meet modern sound-proofing standards and thermal ratings and needed replacing. Structura UK completed one floor at a time working down from the hotel’s 10th floor Rooftop Suite where the company installed some large sliding doors leading to a steel and timber walk-on balcony with views towards Buckingham Palace. Structura’s £1.7m contract involved undertaking structural alterations to the existing openings to accommodate the new window and door design, thus allowing more light into the guest rooms, and installing Juliet balconies. A stunning feature of the Athenaeum’s external appearance is its Living Wall by the botanist and designer Patrick Blanc. Stretching 8-storeys high, it consists of a metal frame fixed to the structure of the building containing a water resistant surface and water retaining material into which thousands of plants have been inserted.
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