Glidevale Provides Luxury Housing with Green Lighting
A luxury home development in the heart of a Conservation Area in Edinburgh is being given a natural lighting system, using Glidevale’s range of tubular rooflights.
Cala Homes’ East Fettes project, in the Inverleith conservation area and overlooking Edinburgh Castle, is transforming a former office block site into 12 townhouses and five blocks giving a total 72 apartments in two acres of private grounds. Plots are selling quickly off plan, not only for the location and setting, but the high specification- which includes Glidevale’s Sunscoop tubular rooflights.
Sunscoop is a translucent glazed rooflight which ‘scoops’ natural daylight down a highly reflective tube through the roof void to a ‘diffuser’ mounted in the ceiling in areas that have little or no natural light. Independent testing has shown even the smallest 250mm diameter Sunscoop gives at least four times more light than a 60watt electric bulb on a clear summer day, yet it uses NO energy to operate. Some 55 no x 530mm diameter Sunscoops are being used at East Fettes, with Sunscoops on landings and over stairways in every townhouse and in the two penthouses in each of the apartment blocks.
“The ambient light levels are incredible!” says Cala’s architectural manager Malcolm Ferguson. “Sunscoops are both ‘green’ and inexpensive to install. We consider they bring significantly higher levels of natural, ambient light into a room than a same-sized window, so specify them in top floor circulation areas.”
He adds, “There are other similar products on the market, but with Glidevale we have a direct line and more importantly a single point of contact (in Craig Fyall) to good technical, product and site support as often as required.”
Glidevale’s Sunscoop can be fitted to pitched or flat roofs, and incorporates a range of roof flashings in a choice of colours to optimise ease of fitting and blending with the roof fabric. Additional internal options include an integral light fitting complete with low energy lamp to ensure the dark room remains light even at night, and a Light & Sun Deflector which ensures that direct light is more effectively captured and transmitted down the tube thereby further increasing light levels by up to 20%.
Glidevale manufactures Sunscoop with a dome, which can be fitted on pitched or flat roofs, or an InLine ‘conservation’ version which resembles a traditional Victorian-style skylight. The Sunscoop glazing and flashings are all AA fire rated, enabling use without restriction in number, spacing, position or proximity to neighbouring properties.
Glidevale is part of the Building Product Design Group, which specialises in developing innovative yet practical roofing and ventilation products in line with changing market requirements.
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For further information:
Visit http://www.glidevale.com, or contact Angela May at:
AFPR, 4 Ashbrook Close,
Hesketh Bank,
Lancashire
PR4 6LZ
Tel: 01772 813600
Email: afpr@btconnect.com