Jane Embury looks back at a corporate award
As we build our way into the new normal, we’ve warned that some old threats haven’t gone away.
That’s backed by a recent Europol report that makes clear how the pandemic has created isolation and radicalisation.
It’s therefore worth remembering that a few years ago we won a prestigious award “for making the world a safer place.”
Wrightstyle was named winner of the Outstanding Innovation category at the 2016 Global Business Excellence Awards.
This was in recognition of our design expertise in developing an advanced glazing system able to withstand a lorry bomb attack.
When a bomb detonates in an urban area, between 80-85% of all secondary blast injuries are caused by flying glass.
Secondary blast injuries caused by flying objects, for example glass fragments, are much more common than primary blast injuries.
Integrated
Wrightstyle devoted considerable resource to developing and testing our high-specification system. Importantly, it was live tested as one integrated assembly. Simply, the glass will only be as safe as its framing system.
We live tested it because computer simulations can only tell you so much. We therefore tested our system in an independent UK test facility inside a secure RAF base.
Testing as one unit is crucial because our system’s strength lies in a glazing technique that bonds the glass to its framing support.
In an explosion the components work together to safely absorb the shock and retain the glazing elements.
But bomb-resistant glazing also looks exactly the same as ordinary curtain walling. It’s therefore not only safe but aesthetically-pleasing.
Since that test, our systems have been specified internationally. Not only in buildings but, for example, in stadia and transport hubs.
Of course, there are other elements that make a building safe from attack. Most obviously, how close an attacker can get to the building.
Protection
That’s where our technical expertise comes in, and we can advise on all appropriate levels of protection.
More usually, our internal and external systems are there to protect against fire. But in some contexts, ballistic or blast protection can be appropriate.
Our advanced system represents a significant investment in design and manufacturing technology.
But, as the chairman of the independent judging panel said, we were “making the world a safer place.”
We still are.
Photo taken of our bomb test.
