Fixing a Broken Glass in Great Glasshouse

How long does it usually take to repair a broken window? Most would answer that it should be a pretty quick process. It took a crane and four men a total of four days to replace a broken glass pane in the Great Glasshouse of the National Botanic Gardens in Carmarthenshire.

A first crack appeared in one of the 785 windows of the Great Glasshouse almost three years ago. With a pane that measures roughly 4m x 1.5m and weighs close to half a tonne, the garden’s publicist David Hardy knew that it would not be an easy job.

The contractors were from Metallbau Fruhand, Germany were initially here to fix windows that were permanently stuck open. Eventually, they also fixed the broken glass pane.

The Great Glasshouse dome was designed by the famous British architect Norman Foster. Each glass pane consists of two 9mm thick sheets of glass with a laminated window film in between. This award-winning garden attracts 160,000 visitors a year.

Original News from Wales Online, December 15th 2008