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Environmental Stewardship

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Design with glass

From anti-reflection to color tints, modern glass enhances design in many ways.

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Whatever the construction challenge, we have the glass to help meet it.

Glass for your home

See how the correct choice of glass can help transform a home – and even our wellbeing.

Highlights
122 Leadenhall - The Cheesegrater

The 75,000 square metres façade features a curtain wall that is double glazed to allow for a high solar protection on neutral-looking glass.

Fruit and Wool Exchange

The new-build façades are predominately brick-faced, with punched windows to reflect the surrounding context.

Caudwell International

Curved glass, punch windows and precast stone panels make up the envelope on a figure-of-eight footprint.

Discover our showcase projects, captured through the lens of professional photography.

Explore Guardian Glass projects in your area and beyond with Google Street View and be inspired by the possibilities.

Highlights
Our story

Just as we were in 1932, we're ready to meet the challenges of now and the future

Environmental Stewardship

Find out more about how glass can support sustainable design

Quality control

We strive for quality in everything we do

Environmental Stewardship

We pride ourselves on being solution providers, especially in the context of environmental stewardship, which involves considering each stage of the life cycle – from the sourcing of raw materials for each product, through to its production,  application and end-of-life. Our approach to environmental stewardship is twofold – we strive to discover new and innovative technologies that improve both the environmental performance and effectiveness of our manufacturing processes and of our products. 

 

Stewardship in action:
explore the life cycle of glass

We also partner with glass fabricators and processors, architects, designers and suppliers, to create products and services that help meet their needs and project goals. We communicate information about the life cycle environmental impact and material health of our products as it becomes available.

As highlighted in our environmental priorities, we always strive to innovate and provide solutions that are a win-win-win for our customers, the environment, and society. And to truly be transformative in this space, we look to partner with suppliers, customers, and other key partners who share our vision.

Recycled glass content

We’re committed to improving the energy efficiency of our manufacturing processes and reducing our use of resources. One way to achieve these is to maximize the amount of glass cullet used.

Cullet Recycling

Cullet is broken or rejected glass which can be reprocessed – saving resources such as sand, soda ash and limestone. Having already been through the mineralization process, cullet melts at a much lower temperature than the raw materials, so the more cullet used, the more energy efficient the process. In fact, energy demand is reduced by approximately 3% for every 10% of cullet, and because less energy and fewer raw materials are used, this also reduces our CO2 emissions. Recently we even conducted a pilot production in Europe that used 60% cullet – while still remaining focused on the quality of the glass.

Recycled glass content

Retrofitting the future

Retrofitting existing buildings, instead of constructing new ones, is now acknowledged to be a viable approach in reducing the resources used during a building’s construction.

Retrofitting the future

Guardian’s high-performance glass can play an important role in this, and the Castellana 77 building in Madrid, Spain is one such example. Its restoration features a new façade of Guardian SunGuard® high selectivity glass, and the modern, inspiring and practical design also has added solar protection via shading fins. Castellana 77 is regarded as a leading example in energy efficiency and environmental design, and has received the prestigious LEED® Platinum certification. 

“The goal was to update the building, resulting in a property that is both flexible and sustainable”. Luis Vidal, Founder, luis vidal + architects 

Retrofitting the future

Glass innovation

Our architectural glass products have been contributing to the energy efficiency of buildings for many years and we continue to innovate at every opportunity – for residential and commercial projects. 

Glass innovation

Guardian ClimaGuard®, for example, is a residential low-emissivity (low-E) glass that helps keep homes comfortable in different environments – by helping retain the interior heat in colder climates and reduce solar heat gain in hotter climates. For commercial construction, the Guardian SunGuard® range also utilizes low-E coating technology for superior solar control and energy performance. All of which helps architects and designers to comply with important regional codes and standards like Energy Star® and IECC 2021, and regional certifications around the world such as LEED®, BREEAM and WELL.

Glass innovation

Certifications, declarations and other programs

To support the sustainability goals of architects and designers, Guardian Glass offers several certifications, declarations and other documents to communicate transparent information about the life-cycle environmental impact of many of our products. 

Certifications, declarations, other programs

These programs help our partners meet increasingly stringent building codes, standards and certification schemes.  Examples include: 

Lastly, we’re proud to introduce our LEED® Green Associates™, in association with Green Building Certificate Inc (GBCI). Through rigorous certification and professional credentialing programs, GBCI drives the adoption of green building and business practices globally. Our new, dedicated associates have the latest knowledge about these building principles and practices – offering you expert support to help you meet specific LEED® requirements.

Certifications, declarations and other programs

Inspiring Projects

Each project has unique challenges, but these can be overcome by investigating and identifying the glazing solutions together. Find out how here .

Demo COntent

Norra Toren

The dawn of a new era in contemporary  architectural work – and a unique apartment building.

Demo COntent

Castellana 77

A building reborn in the heart of Madrid – with a retrofitted Guardian Glass SunGuard® SuperNeutral façade.

Demo COntent
project-hd-diamond66-climaguard-premium2-sn6234_de_berlin_cube-berlin

cube berlin

A new level of double-skin glass façade, for a new generation of ‘intelligent’ commercial buildings.

Seperator

Specify glass to help with energy efficiency

Our Resource Hub can help you understand how glass can contribute to energy-saving construction. It's home to a whole suite of helpful online tools and resources, such as glass analytics and specification tools, a comprehensive resource library and e-learning courses. 

 

Seperator

Resources

We can help your projects reach their full potential. Find out how here. 

Demo COntent

LEED Certification
 

Find out how our advanced high performance glass can help you earn LEED points for your project.

Demo COntent

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)

All our products in Europe have Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), giving you clarity on their environmental impact. 

Demo COntent

Cradle to Cradle Certified®
 

Our EU accreditations for this global standard on products that are considered safe, circular and responsibly produced.

Learn more about how Guardian Glass is putting Stewardship in action across our global footprint.

Need to discuss your project to understand how we can help achieve your sustainability goals?