Promat solutions chosen to safeguard Grade II-listed retail conversion

*Photographs kindly provided by Trailfinders © 2025

The building project in the heart of Windsor, Berkshire has breathed new life into a prime retail property on the town’s High Street, which had stood empty since it was vacated by the previous occupier in June 2023.

Award-winning architect Lustedgreen was tasked with transforming the building and successfully creating the high quality accommodation required by the prestigious travel industry brand.

The Grade II-listed status of the mid-18th Century building required a sensitive approach to the conversion work to ensure that the redecoration of the shop front, new signage and all of the internal refurbishment over five floors would comply with planning and conservation area stipulations.

Another key dimension to the project was to ensure the layout of the ground floor and the first floor could be configured to meet today’s fire safety requirements, without compromising the aesthetic vision or other important design objectives. These included maximising the use of the space and ensuring that visibility and light transmission between areas would be optimised.

One of the ways in which this would be achieved was to form a ground floor lobby using fire resistant internal glass screens and fire-rated doors. A similar approach was adopted on the first floor in order to compartmentalise additional sales and meeting areas.

Key internal elements

The project’s fit-out contractor, Barnwood Construction, approached PGS Glass to provide these key internal elements. Having worked on numerous similar retail and commercial projects throughout the UK for more than 13 years, the PGS Glass team members immediately identified the fully tested fire resistant glazing system, specifically Promat SYSTEMGLAS Ligna, to meet the design and performance objectives.

On the ground floor, PGS Glass used this system to manufacture and install three EI60 fire-rated screens, each measuring around 1.1 metres x 2.4 metres and specified to provide integrity and insulation fire protection for 60 minutes, integrated with a matching fire-rated door set.

The timber selected for the screen framing was European Oak and this has been closely replicated in a veneer finish on the door set.

On the first floor, two further Promat SYSTEMGLAS Ligna screens have been created, this time with an EI30 rating, complete with another fire door. Due to the nature of the historic building, this part of the internal glazing package required additional joinery skills from the PGS Glass team to level the floor by creating and installing an additional plinth.

Correct specification

Paul Groves, contracts manager at PGS Glass (itself a Promat-approved installer), said: “This was a particularly interesting project to be part of given the characteristics of this historic building and the contemporary design created by Lustedgreen. Having worked closely with Promat for many years now, we knew we could consult with them at an early stage to develop the correct specification for the screens and fire doors in order to provide the project team and client with a high quality and fully compliant solution.”

The timber-framed Ligna system used within this renovation project is one of several options available within the Promat SYSTEMGLAS range. This also includes a steel frame version, designated Ferro, plus two options which use framing created thanks to Promat PROMATECT-H, a calcium silicate-based material. Promat SYSTEMGLAS Advenerat is designed to be overclad or painted, while the Celare version offers the ability to conceal the framing within the surrounding walls, floor and ceiling for a frameless glazing ‘look’.

All systems in the Promat SYSTEMGLAS range benefit from the 360-degree ‘wheel of assurance’, which offers traceability throughout the supply chain in line with the golden thread of information. Promat can trace the system from its raw material origins through to the manufacturing and processing and on to installation and post-completion checks. In turn, this significantly reduces the margin for error.

*Further information is available online at www.promat.com/en-gb/industry/markets/fire-rated-glass/