Major refurb for iconic building

As part of a large-scale renovation programme, The Glazerite UK Group and its Stockport-based customer Arctic Seal MCR, have supplied and installed 1,000 windows for a 260,000ft2 business community.

Universal Square is an office campus based on the Piccadilly fringe of Manchester city centre, offering a professional service to more than 50 companies. As part of the refurbishment project, five new interlinked buildings are congregated around a courtyard, with 24-hour security, car parking facilities, a restaurant, and a fitness centre.

The old building has been completely transformed and, as well as external cladding to the complete building, 1,000 Veka M70 windows were supplied to Arctic Seal for installation.

The new structurally coupled windows were finished in anthracite grey to replicate aluminium, and all ground floor windows are Secured By Design accredited and all glazing is grey tinted.

Arctic Seal’s director Shahzad Ashraf said: “Having visited The Glazerite UK Group stand at the 2017 FIT Show, we were very impressed with the quality of its windows, and its windows met our requirements in terms of what size frame they could supply.

“Since then we have worked with them on the Universal Square project, as well as two office-to-flat conversions in Derby and Cannock, totalling around 1,000 windows. Each of these were standard frames but with different levels of glass spec due to soundproofing and depending on elevation. All projects have run to schedule thanks to great communication from Glazerite, and all deliveries arriving as planned.”

Glazerite’s sales manager Pete Smith said: “Now almost complete, the Universal Square project no longer bears any resemblance at all to the building that was historically built to house Great Universal Stores. Arctic Seal has achieved a fantastic result with an inviting and modern space for businesses of all sectors, from SMEs to some major blue chip companies.”