Monthly Archives: October 2012

Choosing the right windows and doors for your climate

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Windows and Doors to match your climate

Windows provide light, fresh air and great views to the outside world, but they can also be a major source of heat transfer, making your home unbearably hot in summer and freezing cold in winter.

Recent advances in glazing materials have improved the performance of windows to the extent where choosing energy efficient windows can prevent heat transfer, significantly reducing your energy costs and make your home noticeably more comfortable.

Different climates across Australia

Australia has 8 zones ranging from hot (zone 1) to cold (zone 8).Australia has a diverse range of climates. The National Construction Code divides Australia into eight different climate zones. These climate zones can be grouped more broadly into three climate categories, which describe the predominant conditions in the area:

  • Hot Climate (zones 1, 2 & 3)
  • Mixed Climate (zones 4 & 5)
  • Cold Climate (zones 6, 7 & 8)

Hot Climate

In hot climates, cooling your home and preventing heat gain is a high priority. When choosing windows, look for types with a lower solar heat gain coefficient (SHGCw) and those that provide good ventilation such as G.James 050 Series louvres. Choose products glazed with a tinted glass or one of the high performance products from the G.James SOLECT® range.

Cold Climate

In colder climates, heating your home and preventing heat loss is the priority. Heat loss during the cooler, winter months can be reduced by installing window types with a lower U-value. Choose products that are double glazed such as G.James Twin-Glaze or ecoTHERM insulated glass units (IGUs) or one of the high performance products from the G.James SOLECT® range. Maximise the passive solar gain by choosing a glass eg clear, which has a high solar heat gain.

Mixed Climate

In a mixed climate both heating and cooling your home are important, so consider which of these is the primary concern. Depending on whether you’re looking to focus on heating or cooling, you should refer to the relevant recommendations above. If neither heating nor cooling is the priority, choose a window with a lower U-value and a mid-range solar heat gain to provide good year round performance.

Heating/Cooling Stars

You can find cooling and heating stars against all our window products in the professional centre of gjames.com.

Between 46%-61% of a home’s heating energy can be lost through windows, while  79%-86% of heat can be gained. Therefore improving the thermal performance of a window can massively reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. WERS (Window Energy Rating Scheme) rates the energy impact of residential windows in Australia. Energy efficiency of windows is rated using the WERS heating/cooling star system.

  • Cooling stars measure a window’s ability to retain heat within the home.
  • Heating stars measure the ability of a window to reduce the amount of heat gained from sunlight.

The aim of WERS is to help home builders and home owners evaluate the relative energy (heating and cooling) performance of different types of windows by rating that performance in terms of stars. Having no stars indicates a very poor performing window while ten stars signifies superior performance.

G.James provides a comprehensive WERS search for all G.James window products. It can be found in the professional centre of gjames.com.

Other Heating & Cooling Factors

Windows with large opening areas maximise opportunity for ventilation and cooling, but larger areas can reduce energy efficiency. Installing an awning or a sunshade over a window will reduce the impact of solar heat gain, and effective window configuration can also improve seasonal efficiency. Knowledge of these factors will help you make an informed choice, but an experienced local glazing professional can also help you devise a solution to suit both your preferences and local conditions.

Project Focus: Five Lobelia Circle

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Lobelia Circle

Five Lobelia Circle is a recently completed five level office building in the International Terminal precinct of Brisbane Airport. The Australian Federal Police are the major tenant, having taken a 15 year lease on three of the five levels.

The building was designed by Cottee Parker Architects and constructed by Matrix Projects for the Brisbane Airport Corporation. The building is an A-grade quality commercial building and has a 4 star Green Star rating with the Green Building Council of Australia, and a 4.5-star NABERS Energy Rating. Construction of the building was completed in September and the building was officially opened early October.

The Façade

G.James were contracted to supply and install the building façade. Our versatile 650-500 glazing system was used extensively throughout the facade of the building.

The fire stairs as well as the western elevation ground-first & third-fourth floors were glazed as curtain wall, with the remainder of the façade glazed as window wall. Vision glass used in the building was 10.38mm grey laminate, with red box/black on clear spandrels.

The horizontal sunblades were predominantly of a black anodised finish, but the sunblades over the lobby area were powdercoated with a precious silver pearl finish. The 475 series was used for automatic entry doors. Fixed louvres (415 series) were used throughout the structure to increase ventilation.

Challenges

A Kingspan facade panel integrates with G.James facade.The façade was installed into structural steel hung off the concrete structure. The window system installed by G.James covers ~75% of the façade face, and an insulated facade panel product called Kingspan was installed around our window system to complete the façade.

As the steel elements for the window install were hung from the structure, tolerance issues were one of the main challenges encountered in the install. To overcome these issues, the install required close coordination between G.James and the Kingspan installer to ensure each floor was within tolerances and the facade was completed successfully.

AFP Building

This building is the first office building in Brisbane’s International Terminal Precinct. G.James is pleased to have worked on this high quality building that showcases our commercial glazing capabilities.

Project Update: Translational Research Institute (TRI)

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Situated on the Princess Alexandra Hospital campus, TRI is an ambitious new building project nearing complection.

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) is an initiative to bring four of the country’s pinnacle research facilities together with to focus on a range of health and research areas including cervical cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, liver and kidney disease, malaria, HIV, osteoporosis, obesity, arthritis and diabetes.

Designed by Wilson Architects and Donovan Hill in conjunction with Aurecon façade consultants, and constructed by Watpac, the TRI building is an ambitious two-year construction project on the Princess Alexandra Hospital campus in Brisbane’s southern suburbs.

A Strong Façade

The building has three main façade styles present in the structure, each with unique solar, thermal, and aesthetic properties and was technically demanding with the different systems that were required to be designed.

The north façade integrates a glass sunshade designed to reduce solar transmission while keeping the views of the city. The courtyard, sheltered from the elements, was designed for ultimate visibility and aesthetic appeal, and the panelled aluminium sides were designed to keep out noise and light while retaining a degree of visibility.

Glass sunshade

Looking north from the TRI facility presents a glazed red view of the city.The striking north façade incorporates a red glass sunshade consisting of 1875 individual pieces to protect the interior from excessive heat from the sun.

Due to the sheer scale of the sunshade, assembling the individual pieces of the façade on-site would be too time-consuming. For this reason each façade panel was assembled at the factory, complete with the external cantilevered glass screen.

The resulting panels, each in excess of three tonnes, were lifted into place with a purpose-built lifting frame and used a specially designed hook-on system to make the installation more manageable. Site installation was required for the glass panels over the vision areas, coming to approximately 850 pieces.

Panelled aluminium façade

The aluminium screens are designed to keep excessive sunlight and noise out of sensitive laboratries.

After Screens

Under the aluminium screens are regular windows.

Before screens

Several styles of panelled aluminium screens adorn the west, east, and south sides of the exterior. These screens are designed to allow inhabitants to see out, but keep sunlight and noise out of the laboratories within.

Due to the nature of the hot dipped, galvanised steel support structure in the curtain wall panels, extra care was required in order to meet the extremely tight tolerance of the aluminium screens. Each individual shelf outrigger supporting the secondary steel work and screens for the east and west façades was individually surveyed in order to correctly detail the support steel and ensure over 850 individual panels could be installed to the tolerances required.

The central atrium

The central courtyard is the centrepiece of the entire project, with views of the area from all sides of the building. The courtyard is ringed with large open areas, meeting rooms, cafe spaces and the main auditorium.

The ground floors all open onto the courtyard, with a large glass stairwell at the very centre.

The lower levels of the façade incorporates low-e glass for high visibility, while spandrels consist of external printed glass — said to resemble culture in a Petri dish. The panels for the vision area were structurally sealed to a custom designed opening without any mullions for support, so a bespoke head system was designed specifically for the project in order to secure the façade.

The steel ring beam basically holds the place up.The central staircase sits in the centre of the courtyard, consisting of a shimmering glass exterior structurally sealed to a steel ring beam and suspended from parapet outriggers on the eighth level.

Each steel ring beam in the staircase is made of three pieces consisting of two ‘C’ sections with a straight connecting member. Each level fixed at four locations to the concrete structure and weighs around four and a half tonnes, including three tonnes of glass.

The stairwell façade was built from the top down and utilised a mobile access plant to install the steel and mast climbers on each face.

Completion

The level of technical achievement in this building is impressive. When opened, the facility will house more than 650 researchers, and will have a pilot scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility allowing the research, production, clinically testing, and manufacture of drugs and vaccines under the one roof.

At present the front façade is nearly installed, and the project is on track for completion within the next few months. Make sure to sign up for the newsletter for updates on the project, including photos of the finished structure once it’s opened.