Our Maintenance team was contacted directly by the NHS, to replace two broken pieces of glass located in one of their facilities in Gosforth, Newcastle.
During our site inspection, the team determined that the cause of the breakage was a result of an inclusion or impurity in the glass. This could be identified by the typical ‘Butterfly’ breakage pattern, which occurs due to the nickel sulphide inclusions during the glass manufacturing process. As the nickel sulphide expands and contracts at a different rate to the glass, temperatures fluctuate –particularly during colder weather.
The units were situated above a pedestrian walkway and each piece weighed in excess of 100kg so working closely with Blade Access we determined that the safest way to carry out the work was to use a truck-mounted cherry picker, with specialist lifting equipment. All works took place out of hours, or during weekends to minimise disruption and safety risk to the public.
The project was completed on schedule and the client scored our team with an excellent rating!