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Local architectural glazing specialists Norman & Underwood, have come to the aid of Loughborough University by helping to re-house a full size fighter jet.
The University wanted to move one of its most prized exhibitions, the first prototype Euro Fighter, across the University campus to the Stewart Miller building, the new location for the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, in time for a prestigious event.
The plane could only gain access to the building’s main hall by completely removing a giant Kawneer glazing structure that makes up one wall of the main hall.
With strict time constraints on the operation, Norman & Underwood removed and refitted this notoriously complex window system, leaving the University ten days to prepare for their event.
Comments Sean Flynn, Glazing Division manager at Norman & Underwood:
“This was an especially challenging task as the window system to be removed was purpose built and not designed with removal in mind.
“The job, which was initially expected to take three weeks, was successfully completed within ten days by four of Norman & Underwood’s most experienced glazing craftsmen. This enabled the University to have the plane in place for the important event that they were holding, with lots of time to spare.”
The plane is used at Loughborough University by aeronautical engineering students as a valuable training aid in both the design and system engineering of fighter aircraft.
Says Tim Walton of Loughborough University Estates Department: “Norman & Underwood were a superb team who knew exactly what they were doing, and consequently the whole project went like clockwork.
“They have considerable experience in the field of architectural glazing and we naturally approached them to take on this highly important project for us. The finished product is a great credit to their skills.”
Other recent projects of Norman & Underwood’s Architectural Glazing Division have included the complete structural glazing of Rolls Royce’s Pension Fund Building in Egham and modern glazed screens and doors to All Saints Church in Small Heath, Birmingham.
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