Because ordinary window performance is so poor in energy terms, even modest improvements in the glass performance can lead to significant changes in heating and cooling costs.

Viridian’s entry-level double glazed product: ClimaTech™ improves insulation over ordinary glass by around a third, offers a wide range of solar control options. Put simply, no modern home should be built with anything less than double glazed glass and preferably with a Low E coating.

If you have taken the step to choose double glazing, it makes sense to get the best available – Low E coated, Argon gas fill, quality construction and a meaningful warranty. Double glazing also allows you to mix and match multiple glass types to achieve different performance outcomes e.g. enhanced noise control, security, etc.

When building a new home, much of the cost of the windows is in the frames and installation cost. So, upgrading to a Low E glass like ClimaTech™ is a small investment that will return lifelong energy savings through summer and winter.

Double glazing is becoming far more commonly available and so its pricing has improved significantly, so it is well worth investigating using this to get the best energy savings and comfort levels in your home.

*[1]“Glazing,” YourHome. [Online]. Available: https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/glazing. [Accessed: 19-Jun-2023]

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ThermoTech™ Double Glazing

Our standard double glazed unit range, utilising 2 pieces of ordinary or laminated glass, separated by a spacer and sealed together, offering enhanced insulation properties when compared to single glazing. For improved performance ThermoTech™ units can integrate products such as VFloat™, VLam™, SuperTones™, VLam™ Hush or DécorColour™.

Viridian ClimaTech™ Double Glazing

Our entry level Low E double glazed unit range that provides a good level of performance. Comprising of two pieces of glass, one coated with a spectrally controlled Low E coating and the other an ordinary clear or toned glass. Viridian ClimaTech™ is supplied in either heat strengthened or toughened only glass, which is separated by an aluminium spacer and sealed together using argon gas.

LightBridge™ Double Glazing

Our high performance double glazed unit range is a better option due to the combination of Low E glass and thermal spacer. The Low E glass was developed specifically for residential building applications and has argon gas fill as standard. A high insulating factor is assured whilst maintaining a very high level of visual clarity and visible light transmission levels.

LightBridge next™ Double Glazing

Our superior performance double glazed unit range provides all the benefits of LightBridge™ with the additional inclusion of an acoustic interlayer, specially formulated to dampen noise – the best option available in the Viridian double glazing suite of products.

VistaTech™ Triple Glazing

The ultimate performance triple glazed unit range, providing optimal thermal performance and natural acoustics compared to standard glazing. The three-pane technology is five times more efficient than double glazing.

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According to YourHome, “good orientation, combined with other energy efficiency features, can reduce or even eliminate the need for auxiliary heating and cooling, resulting in lower energy bills, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved comfort. It takes account of summer and winter variations in the sun’s path as well as the direction and type of winds, such as cooling breeze.”

High performance glass and windows, when considered as part of the building design, can create comfortable spaces which takes advantage of the way the sun hits the home at different points of the seasons.

We know not everyone is in a position to build a new home, knock down their current home or even replace the entire set of windows in a home. However, it is worth keeping in mind that you can invest in better performing windows in specific areas of the home which cop the brunt of the sun to ensure a cooler space in summer. High performance glazing will also create conditions to maintain a more ambient temperature through winter.

Instead of settling for smaller windows, consider better performing double glazing or Low E glass like LightBridge next™ or LightBridge™ to support your home through all seasons.

Speak with your glazier, window fabricator, builder or architect to support your glass selection in line with the home’s orientation.

Read more technical detail about direction and orientation on the YourHome website here.

Scott Clarkson is a Building Performance Expert and runs Clarkson Consulting. Here he explains more about choosing different types of glazing for different places in the home. Take a look!

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We have always been here to make sure glass isn’t ignored, supporting our customers and the wider community in accessing and understanding the benefits of choosing better glass for our homes and buildings. We know that natural light creates healthier, happier and more connected spaces. We also know that demand for comfortable and more energy efficient spaces is growing. Glass can help solve building challenges when it comes to natural light, comfort and thermal efficiency – and this is what excites and inspires us. Put simply, we love glass.

We work and innovate with glass every day, it’s our passion – we want to share our knowledge for better glass choices and educate why glass choices are important for the day to day comfort and long term value of a home.

Think about the choices you make when going through the requirements for a build or renovation project. Your builders invite you to a colour studio to choose your finishes and colour scheme, or your renovation plan focuses on fresh paint or tiles – we want to open your mind to think about how structurally you can create a more comfortable, private and quiet home by selecting high performance glass for your windows.

Scott Clarkson is a Building Performance Expert and runs Clarkson Consulting, and he will explain why glass choice is important for the comfort of your home.

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Natural Light – We talk about it a lot, but it’s really important and we can all agree on the great feeling we get when we open our blinds on a sunny day. A light filled home creates an inviting brightness which can aid how you work, relax and entertain in your space. We all know different seasons affect our moods and productivity – so ensuring our buildings capture and optimise the benefits of natural light is important to year round comfort.

Noise Comfort – You only need to look at our apartment cities and housing estates to work out we are living closer together more than ever before and in closer proximity to train lines, busy freeways and airports. We can’t always control the noises coming from outside, or how our inside noises can travel out. So, considering the area you live in and how an acoustic glass might help is important. Town planning compliance now also requires acoustic glass be used in certain locations closer to freeways, airports or train lines so it is worth considering this early so you’re ready to ask the right questions.

Privacy – There are areas in the home where you want natural light but also need privacy. Two storey homes which look over a single storey house, or bathrooms for example. Consider where you need that extra privacy, you don’t always want to install blinds in a bathroom so a frosted glass may ensure there is privacy whilst maximising natural light.

Heat Loss and Gain – This is getting a little technical, but bear with us. We wish it weren’t so but windows are a conductor of energy, this means they are responsible for heat loss and gain in the home so using ordinary glass and windows can result in a chilly home in winter, or hot rooms in summer. Knowing this, you can design spaces which optimise how our homes take on the sun during winter and summer and choose high performance glass to help regulate how the outside temperatures are absorbed.

Choosing an energy efficient glass or double glazing makes a huge difference because it slows that absorption of outside temperatures. This takes the edge off the peaks and troughs in temperature which occur in the home when we are in extreme summer and winter months. A high performance glass and window smooths out these extremes, creating a consistent temperature in the home all day long. This means you’re not rushing to switch on your powered heating and cooling, which can take pressure of those dreaded energy bills! See an example of this in action as told by a homeowner here.

Scott Clarkson is a Building Performance Expert and runs Clarkson Consulting, he explains more in our latest video. Take a look!

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Australian Standards AS/NZ1288 regulate and advise the industry on how to install glass safely depending on the type of building, where it’s being installed, how high it is being installed and what kind of exposure the glass has to the elements.

The term ‘Safety Glass’ or ‘Grade A Safety Glass’ is applied to glazing which must be used to reduce the risk of injury from accidental impact and glass breakage.

Glass isn’t automatically safety glass when it comes off the float manufacturing line, it needs to have other processes applied to it which makes it a safety glass. This is where Viridian Glass comes in to make sure the glass has the correct safety processes applied.

There are three main ways we make glass a safety product, and requirements vary depending on the application and thermal risk. These are:

Toughening: the glass is heated up to high temperatures after being cut to size, and then rapidly cooled down. This process increases its strength making it up to five times stronger than annealed glass
Laminating: the glass is laminated using a very thin PVB interlayer between two pieces of glass. When broken the fragments adhere to the interlayer.
Toughened or Heat Strengthened Lamination: this is where a combination of both the lamination and toughening processes are applied to the glass for extra strength and safety.

You can read more about the heat treatment and custom lamination processes here.

At Viridian Glass we have four main types of safety glass products to support varying risk levels and applications. These are:

VLam™ (Grade A safety glass): Laminated glass helps to protect from injury caused by sharp splinters of broken glass. If broken, laminated glass sticks to the interlayer and generally stays in the window frame to provide added safety.

VTough™ (Grade A safety glass):  Toughened glass is up to five times stronger than annealed glass. On impact, it breaks into small blunt-edged pieces, reducing the risk of injury.

VLam™ Toughened (Grade A safety glass): the optimum in safety glass. Each piece of glass is toughened to provide superior structural strength when compared to annealed glass and then these pieces are bonded together using a PVB interlayer to ensure if the glass breaks the pieces are held together by the interlayer.

DecorMirror™ Safe SB (safety mirror): is a high specification mirror with a special safety backing film to retain broken pieces of mirror if broken from impact.

There are also special processes required for products like glass flooring or overhead glazing which go above the regular safety standards due to their high risk and weight load requirements. We have engineering experts here at Viridian Glass to support installers and builders with specifying glass for these applications.

Speak to your installer or window team to ensure your glass is being provided to the relevant safety standards.

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According to YourHome, “good orientation, combined with other energy efficiency features, can reduce or even eliminate the need for auxiliary heating and cooling, resulting in lower energy bills, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved comfort. It takes account of summer and winter variations in the sun’s path as well as the direction and type of winds, such as cooling breeze.”

High performance glass and windows, when considered as part of the building design, can create comfortable spaces which takes advantage of the way the sun hits the home at different points of the seasons.

We know not everyone is in a position to build a new home, knock down their current home or even replace the entire set of windows in a home. However, it is worth keeping in mind that you can invest in better performing windows in specific areas of the home which cop the brunt of the sun to ensure a cooler space in summer. High performance glazing will also create conditions to maintain a more ambient temperature through winter.

Instead of settling for smaller windows, consider better performing double glazing or Low E glass like LightBridge next™, LightBridge™ or SmartGlass™ to support your home through all seasons.

Speak with your glazier, window fabricator, builder or architect to support your glass selection in line with the home’s orientation.

Read more technical detail about direction and orientation on the YourHome website here.

Scott Clarkson is a Building Performance Expert and runs Clarkson Consulting, he explains more choosing different types of glazing for different places in the home. Take a look!

The post Glass and building orientation appeared first on Viridian Glass.

Another season of a blockbuster series of The Block has now come to an end! We were honored to be approached to provide glass and glazing to the contestants this year!

The Blockheads designed their homes to ensure natural light was able to be accessed by their spaces as much as possible. They successfully ensured glazing was installed into the nooks and crannies of these historical terrace homes to bring fresh light and inviting spaces to these beautiful buildings.

We have been a regular supporter of The Block, and we are always excited to see how the contestants make use of glazing and windows around their home to maximise the aesthetic, comfort and natural light. This year, the biggest Block ever, was no exception!

Congratulations to all this year’s contestants! In particularly to House 2 winners Tess and Luke!

This year, the teams used LightBridge double glazing throughout the home. Not only allowing for bigger windows, but also allowing for comfort and sustainability for many years to come.

The windows weren’t the only place glass was used!

Tess and Luke in House 2 used DecorFloor to access more light from the overhead skylights into the bottom level of the house.

The teams also made use of VTough glass balustrading for their stairwells. We particularly love the way Jesse and Mel designed their amazing glass panelling around their stairs.
Such beautiful homes – we are so proud of the way Viridian Glass was used by all the contestants.

Don’t forget – when choosing your windows and doors ask your builder or window fabricator for Viridian Glass.

Read the full Q&A Case Study with The Block’s Architect Julian Brenchley here. Watch this space as we take a deep dive into each of the homes to explore how glass and glazing was used, and provide some inspiration for your space.

Take a look at our interview with The Block architect, Julian Brenchley and take a virtual tour through the home!

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The rise in modern retro design has seen demand grow for Viridian’s Squarelite wired glass.

Traditionally made with wire inside, this glass has an impressive effect. Allowing for light, privacy and an interesting finish.

The challenge we have when supplying this product is that Squarelite is unable to go through the toughening process due to the wire inside. Glass toughening is a key process to producing glass of a Grade A safety standard. Toughening ensures that if the glass breaks, it breaks in safe rubble-like granules as opposed to sharp dangerous shards.

The Viridian PixaGraphic™ team have come up with a solution for customers wanting this type of product. The team have used their design and technology expertise to replicate the look of this on-trend wired glass without the safety concerns. They do this by printing the wire pattern on to the glass, which means the product is then able to be taken through the toughening process, making it safe and up to standards. So, you can achieve the desired look without putting your family or building occupants at risk.

See a photo of the original and PixaGraphic versions side by side – can you spot the difference?

Contact the friendly PixaGraphic™ team here to find out more or get a quote!

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The team are reno pros, but this year’s project took a different turn! It’s the first time they have taken on a new home build. It’s also the first time they have collaborated on the project with a fourth bird, Sophie Bell. Sophie and her family own the the northern NSW block, so this home is their forever sanctuary as the Bell family grows.

This home is a celebration of glass, with large double doors and windows allowing for natural light to stream throughout the house. Connection and energising natural light is the key for entertaining, kids playtime and Sophie’s working space upstairs.

The team selected Viridian ComfortPlus for the windows, which is our laminated Low E glass for added energy efficiency.

Viridian VTough is our toughened glass product, this was used for the pool fencing panels around that stunning pool.

See some photos below and catch up on all House 10 episodes here

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