Built in 1830 and designed by George Smith, the Grade II* Listed St Albans former Town Hall is one of the city’s most prominent landmarks. The elegant venue has been recently extended and repurposed to designs by John Mc Aslan and Partners as a world-class centre for arts and culture at the heart of one of Britain’s most historic cities. As part of the refurbishment Selectaglaze was approached by the consultants to consider ways of improving environmental controls. Very large tripartite single glazed windows in the impressive 1^st floor Assembly Room offered extremely poor thermal insulation. Other windows required significantly improved security to meet Arts Council guidelines for inclusion in the Government Indemnity Insurance scheme. This meant that units which had been tested and met LPS1175 standards had to be used. The design had to meet exacting conservation requirements, so working closely with contractor Willmott Dixon Construction a sample window was produced for the Assembly Room. This was a special 3 pane vertical sliding unit measuring 4.3m (h) x 1.7m (w). It was constructed with powder coated aluminium sections to match existing paintwork and 6.8mm low emissivity laminated glass. The finished installation was inspected and approved allowing the remaining windows to be treated.