Glassmarque

Extensive restoration to the windows of the facade

SPECIALISED RESTORATION OF THE WINDOWS OF THE LANYON BUILDING, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST

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In 1849 the Queen’s University Belfast Lanyon Building, designed in Gothic/Tudor style by Charles Lanyon, was completed. It has remained an iconic and much loved building in the heart of the City ever since.

Unfortunately over the past 170 years the façade has deteriorated badly and it became necessary to undertake extensive restoration. In 2017 the building works to restore the façade to its former glory commenced and Glassmarque was awarded the contract for the window restoration. It was decided to restore as many of the windows as possible, rather than the usual practice of replacing them with new. This would allow most of the original frames to be retained, meets with best conservation practice and is much cheaper than replacement. Glassmarque is the only company in Ireland to undertake this type of restoration.

On inspection it was discovered that the windows in one half of the West facade were 170 year old originals, while the other half were lattice windows which were installed around 70 years ago. In the North elevation, facing the Lynn Library building, there were 51 year old lattice windows. The windows of the façade are ornate zinc lattice and some have shaped tops which fit into trefoil stone surrounds. Over time they had corroded badly and were covered in thick layers of paint which had spread over the glass. Many panes were broken and some previous glazing repairs had been badly done. At some point in the past steel sashes were fitted into some of the zinc windows to provide more ventilation and these had gradually rusted causing damage to the stone façade. Overall the windows had deteriorated badly and needed substantial restoration.

This was a challenging contract for Glassmarque to undertake. It involved highly detailed work whilst taking the needs of University life into account at all times. Glassmarque needed to work alongside other sub-contractors, the project architect and heritage frame manufacturers to solve the difficult issues that cropped up. For example, many of the zinc frames disintegrated as they were removed from the stone façade and had to be painstakingly rebuilt, re-painted and re-glazed using glass made in the antique tradition. Where ventilation was still inadequate, the old steel sashes or hopper ventilators were replaced with new bronze frames which were painted and glazed. In the North elevation there were over 100 more recently fitted plain windows which were not in keeping with the facade. It was decided to replace these with new zinc lattice windows, painted and glazed to match the others in the façade.

Much of this restoration work has now been done and completion will be around March 2019. The façade will look as stunning as it did in 1849 and should continue to do so for another 100 years.

Glassmarque are one of Ireland's leading Glass suppliers and have recently completed a job in The Dark Horse Bar in Hill Street Belfast, we supplied & installed an aluminium canopy for the outdoor area. The clients are over the moon so we hope that if there is anymore work needing done in the future, the will contact Glassmarque.

Glassmarque supplied & installed bi-fold doors, commercial doors and screens into disused shipping containers to create more space for food serving, customer changing rooms and storage in one of Northern Ireland's most family friendly activity centers.

At Glassmarque we love to do something a little different and that's exactly what happened when we started a job for Ormeau Baths Office, Belfast. The client's architect came to us looking for a retro steel style for an internal project. This style is extremely expensive to reproduce due to the cost of steel, so we designed a new system of slimline aluminium framing to replicate the look of 'Crittall' type steel at a fraction of the cost and with less maintenance in the future. The client was delighted that we were able to create something new and unique to them that fitted their brief and met their budget.

QUB Lanyon Building completed in 1849.Architect was CharlesLanyon, iconic and much loved Victorian
Gothic Tudor building.

Deterioration of the façade over the years meant
extensive restoration was necessary. Substantial
restoration of the facade began in 2017.
Glassmarque was awarded the contract for the window
restoration. Glassmarque is the only company in Ireland to undertake this type of restoration. It allows most of the original frames to be retained, meets with best conservation practice and is much cheaper than the usual method of window replacement.

Half of the West facade contains 150 year old original windows and the other half has lattice window which were installed around 70 years ago. The North elevation, facing the Lynn Library building, has 51 year old lattice windows.The zinc frames are ornate lattice; some with shaped tops which fit into trefoil shaped stone surrounds. Over time they had corroded badly and were covered in thick layers of paint which had spread over the glass. Many panes were broken and some previous glazing repairs had been badly done. Due to the building not having sufficient ventilation, some sashes were added into the zinc windows many years
ago and these had gradually rusted, causing damage to the stone façade. The windows had deteriorated to a serious state.

This was a challenging contractfor Glassmarque to undertake. It involved careful and highly detailed
work whilst taking the needs of University life into account at all times. Many of the frames
disintegrated as they were removed from the stone façade and had to be completely rebuilt. Frames were painstakingly restored, re-painted and re-glazed using glass made in the antique tradition. Where ventilation was still inadequate, new
bronze frames were painted, glazed and fitted in replacement of the old steel sashes or the original hopper ventilators. In the North elevation there were over 100 more recently fitted plain windows which were not in keeping with the facade. The
challenge here was to replace these with new zinc lattice windows to match the original.

This restoration work should be fully completed by March 2019. The façade will look as stunning as it did in 1849 should continue to do so for another 100 years.

Glassmarque is a local company and does not just specialise in heritage window restoration. They
also complete contemporary projects, for example the installation of a 13m frameless structural glass screen in the Lynn Library QUB. They also fabricate and install commercial and residential
aluminium, secondary glazing, frameless glazing and stained glass windows.