Glass specialists serving Littlehampton

Building glass that survives the Littlehampton seafront

Littlehampton sits at the mouth of the Arun with the prevailing south-westerly coming straight off the Channel, and that combination is harder on glass installations than anywhere else we work. Two things follow from it.

The first is corrosion. Standard balustrade and canopy fittings are 304 grade stainless, which is perfectly good inland and will start tea-staining and pitting within a couple of seasons on a Beach Road or seafront elevation. We specify 316 marine grade on anything exposed here as a matter of course rather than as an upsell. The difference in material cost is modest. The difference after five years is obvious from across the street.

The second is wind loading. A first-floor balcony balustrade on the riverfront carries a considerably higher design wind pressure than the same balustrade in Horsham, and that feeds directly into glass thickness and fixing centres. On exposed riverfront and seafront jobs we generally go up a step on the laminate rather than working to the minimum that would pass inland.

Riverfront apartments and access

A good proportion of our Littlehampton work is in the newer apartment developments along the river, and those jobs have a practical wrinkle worth raising early: getting a 2.4 metre toughened panel to a third-floor balcony. Some blocks have a goods lift, some have a stair turn that a full-length panel simply will not pass. We check the route at survey, and where it will not go we design the job around two panels with a discreet joint rather than turning up on fitting day and discovering the problem.

If you are in a managed block, it is also worth checking whether your lease or management company requires consent for external alterations. Balustrade changes on a shared elevation often do.