Innovative rooflights for a ground-breaking school

Roofglaze installed over 60 different rooflights of different sizes and specifications at The Village School in North West London, in a project with an order value of £200,000.

The school, which occupies three sites in the London Borough of Brent, provides schooling and care services for children ranging from two up to nineteen years of age. The buildings, therefore, cater for an extremely diverse set of requirements within the relatively limited space available in a city school.

An example of this, and an exciting feature of this particular school, is the children’s play area which occupies a 1980m² rooftop above one of the school’s main buildings.

The concrete roof deck with single ply waterproofing membrane, is finished with a rubber safety surfacing in a variety of colours, highlighting features and play equipment.

Installed on this roof area are 42 high specification flat glass walk-on rooflights. Outer skins are 39.5mm clear toughened laminated glass with diffusing vision (white) and translucent slip-resistant ceramic coating, over a 14mm argon-filled cavity. Inner skins are 6mm toughened laminated glass.

This construction is capable of withstanding a 4.0kN/m² concentrated load and combines safety for the playground users; high light transmission to classrooms and corridors; and obscured vision between the two levels.

At a main junction of corridors a nine metre diameter polygonal glass pyramid skylight has been installed to enhance light levels in this area. The skylight provides a strong visual feature both internally and externally. Another impressive feature at the school, a central atrium, is topped by a 5000mm x 7000mm glass ridgelight.

Both of these large glass skylights feature Roofglaze’s thermally broken aluminium framework, finished in Slate Grey (RAL 7015) to match other external metalwork at the school.

In addition to the various glass rooflights installed at The Village School, Roofglaze has also supplied and installed seven different triple skin polycarbonate barrel vault rooflights and fourteen individual polycarbonate dome rooflights with uPVC upstands.

“This project provides a great showcase for of our ability to provide diverse rooflighting solutions – from highly specialised bespoke units and custom designed skylights, to the simplest standard polycarbonate domes”, said Chris Morgan, Operations Director at Roofglaze.

Roofglaze is a leading supplier of glass and polycarbonate rooflights and skylights, with a comprehensive range from modular domes and pyramids, to continuous barrel vaults, ridgelights, lantern lights and bespoke rooflight solutions.

We offer a complete design, build and installation service, with purpose-built manufacturing facilities located at our headquarters in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.