The new Lloyd's of London building at One Lime Street is a City of London icon. The building was opened in 1986 by HM The Queen. A feature of the design strategy was to maximise light transmission. The original glazing comprised both clear vision glass and "sparkle glass" for with the casting process embodied very accurate 8mm lenses to produce the sparkle effect. By 2010 the need was apparent for some refurbishment to make a more vibrant, more compelling space. Due to the insufficient light penetrating the glazing, particularly the sparkle glass, a replacement programme was implemented. Replacement and Recycling: Each floor-to-ceiling cladding unit has 2 layers of glazing; an outer double glazed unit and an inner secondary glazing layer. The glass in the DGUs are solar control-coated. The glazing is arranged in bands of sparkle glass and clear glass. The old sparkle glass was suitable for re-use, so a portion of the glass was sent to Belgium to be cut to the newly required size, fabricated with new glass into DGUs and then returned to the UK for reinstating into the building. The remainder of the glass was turned into cullet, as explained in this article.
