Hiscox Building, York
May 2017

The creation of a new corporate headquarters and customer interface facility for York based insurance company Hiscox has seen systems from WICONA used to help achieve a BREEAM Very Good rating.

 Glassolutions was the fenestration sub-contractor for main contractor BAM Construction, with Make Architects in London leading the design team. One aspects of the property is a third floor terrace, fronting meeting rooms, where Wictec 50SG sliding doors give access to the outside space and the views of the walled city.

Glassolutions’ in-house team was able to work with Make Architects to create a sweeping glazed wall which includes both convex and concave forms with constantly varying faceted angles. The project team chose an exterior 150 mm mullion, with all sections showing a RAL 7012 Basalt Grey Qualicoat Matt finish, while 47 mm thick high performance IG units deliver the thermal performance required.

 One of the senior architects involved with the project for Make Architects, George Guest, said: “The client wanted to create much more than an office building, with half of the floor area being given over to creating an atrium, while there is a lot of exposed concrete at the balcony edges and all around the interior – giving impact and creating thermal mass.

“With this project being designed to achieve BREEAM Very Good, making use of passive heating and cooling was very important so we have two and a half elevations of woven brickwork, then the entire triple height north elevation being glazed. The Wicona system behind the third floor terrace, overlooking the city, includes sliding doors giving access to the extensive seating and entertaining space. This has been a very successful project.”

Other glazed areas to the Hiscox building feature Wicline 90SG windows.