What is Safety Toughened Glass?

Our safety toughened glass partitioning (also referred to as tempered glass partitions) is a specialist type of glass that has undergone treatment in order to offer a high quality and safe product to a number of different workspaces.

At Glass Partitioning UK, we use safety glass for many of our partitioning projects as it provides our customers with great structural strength and durability, wherever applied.

Once we’ve confirmed your project, our toughened safety glass is manufactured and cut to size to suit your bespoke requirements. During this stage, the glass is tempered in extremely hot and extremely cold environments. It’s this process that provides our glass with increased shatter resistance and heat resistance, making it a popular solution to create safe and functional dividers in our offices.

Toughened Safety Glass vs Laminated Glass: What’s the Difference? 

You might have seen a few of our installation projects use laminated glass walls. Whilst this glass type is suitable for a number of projects, there are a few differences that can be identified. In fact, the manufacturing process gives this partitioning solution different qualities to tempered glass walls.

During construction, a layer of plastic is sandwiched in the middle of two glass panes. This acts like a double sided sticky tape that means if your laminated glass partitions come into serious impact, the glass will likely shatter, but retain shape to prevent shards from causing harm. For this reason, we typically specify laminated glass for installations above a drop, such as a mezzanine floor.

When compared to safety toughened glass, both partitions boast structural durability, however there are a few key differences. For one, the toughened safety glass thickness is less than laminated glass walls (although this is arguably an unnoticeable feature). Safety toughened glass is stronger and less likely to break, whereas laminated glass is more prone to breakages, but will hold shape to prevent shards from scattering. Notably, there is a price difference between the glass options – we often recommend toughened safety glass as our more affordable and budget-friendly partitioning solution.

Benefits of Safety Toughened Glass Walls

From meeting rooms to office walls, glass is a popular partitioning solution across many spaces. Once installed, our safety toughened partitions can have many benefits:

Strength

Safety glass partitions offer incredible structural strength – at least five times more than more standard glass partitioning alternatives. This means your office glass partitions are less likely to break and cause potential injuries in the workplaces. It can even help you save money on replacements!

Impact Resistance

The durability and manufacturing process of safety toughened glass grants the partitioning solution with a high level of impact resistance. Not only does this support health and safety concerns in the workplace, but it also makes glass a suitable partitioning solution for work spaces across different sectors.

If extreme impact does occur, safety toughened glass will shatter into tiny pieces, without sharding into dangerous fragments of glass that could cause damage.

Heat Resistance

Having been tempered during the manufacturing stage, safety toughened glass walls can provide a degree of fire protection when installed as they can withstand high temperatures. Please note: The fire protection of your workplace will depend on individual building regulations.

Acoustics

Depending on the glazed glass partitioning you select, your safety glass can offer sound protection to improve work quality in your space. We even offer acoustic glass partitioning for workplaces that need special acoustic control. Whether you need a quiet focus space or a private meeting room, check out our Acoustics Guide for more information.

Glass Partitioning Solutions from GPUK

At Glass Partitioning UK, we offer glass solutions to suit the needs of your workplace. From acoustics to impact resistance, even including design, we have options to transform the way your business works. Get a free, instant quote for your project today, or for more information, please don’t hesitate to contact our team of glass specialists.