Toughened & Laminated Safety Glass

We have been processing, supplying and fitting safety glass, in and around London, for over three decades.

As both a supplier and an installer, we are uniquely qualified to advise you on all aspects of both:

• choosing the correctly specified safety glass for your project

and,

• advising on installation, or fitting it for you if required

Toughened glass is more rigid, stronger and has greater resistance against breakage - laminated glass is more flexible and better for soundproofing and security.

Typically, laminated glass is slightly more expensive - both laminated and toughened glass have excellent optical clarity.

The exact application, size and location of the safety glass must always be considered for each job in order to specify the correct solution.

In the following section, we cover the manufacture, specifications, uses and additional options for all the different types of safety glass.

However, if you already know what you want and would like a price, or perhaps you need some expert friendly advice, please call us on 0208 452 0039 or send us an email.

Custom made and bespoke glass products that we have manufactured using toughened or laminated glass can be seen in our Bespoke Glass Gallery.

Toughened Glass

Toughened glass is produced by heating it to 620 °C in the tempering oven, then quenching (rapidly cooling) it with high pressure air jets.

This increases the inherent strength of the glass by a factor of x 5 - and changes the molecular structure so that if it breaks, it does so safely, producing small granular pieces, rather than large jagged shards.

Once the glass toughening process has been applied, the glass cannot be cut, drilled or “worked” in any way, or it will shatter - so it is cut to size and any holes drilled or cut outs created first - then it is toughened.

Available in a wide range of thicknesses, the most common being 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 15mm and 19mm.

Laminated Glass

Laminated glass is manufactured as a “glass sandwich” of two (or more) sheets of glass bonded to a clear, optical quality, polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer.

The bonding is so strong that if the glass is broken it stays in place, stuck to the interlayer, thus maintaining structural integrity, security, preventing weather ingress and minimising the risk of injury.

Unlike toughened glass, laminated glass can be cut and drilled, so it is produced in large sheets and then cut to size, drilled and shaped.

We stock both clear polished and white opal 6.4mm laminated, ready for our cut to size while you wait service - and we can produce almost any thickness up to 19mm.

Toughened Laminated Glass

Toughened laminated glass combines the two processes to produce a safety glass with all of the properties of both:

• good rigidity & flexibility
• high impact breakage resistance
• excellent acoustic soundproofing
• safe breakage
• retains structural integrity if broken

It is mostly used for situations where there is a danger of:

• falling onto, or through from height, if the glass breaks
• broken glass falling from height onto people below

such as:

Safety Glass - Applications & Options

Prices, Quotes, Ordering Online & Guarantee

For details of our no hassle costing service, please refer to the explanation on the main glass and glazing page, or simply call us on 0208 452 0039 or send us an email.

Many of our custom made glass products are specified with safety glass, including:

• Splashbacks & Work Tops
• Table Tops
• Shower Glass