Austrian Eckelt to provide glass for Ground Zero

Glass company Eckelt, which is based in Steyr, Upper Austria, will be producing around 4,000 square metres of insulated glass at a cost of around 1.6 million Euros for a new train station complex.

The world trade centre underground transport hub has been designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and is intended to resemble a giant bird when it is completed in 2014. The building is meant to symbolise the freedom of a dove released into the wild.

The company is producing a special glass with a coating to protect from the sun. According to Upper Austrian news today (Mon), the so-called "Diamond glass" will allow the entrance of the building to be flooded with plenty of natural light without the inside getting too warm.

For more than 20 years Eckelt has been a subsidiary of French industrial group Saint Gobain. During this period, contact with the sister company Saint Gobain Exprover North America has played an important role within the company. The firm in Steyr alone have provided both the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece and BMW World (a brand experience and delivery centre) in Munich, Germany with insulated glass.

According to reports, Eckelt suffered greatly during the economic crisis in 2009 with record sales of 64 million Euros falling by a third. With this new assignment and a large number of orders for 2012, sales manager Dieter Wachauer expects 2009’s trend to be altered.