Glazing to save birds’ lives

A glass specialist has launched a unique glazing in the UK which will save birds lives. The glass has seen its first use in a lookout tower in Lindisfarne, recently opened by the Prince of Wales.
Each migration season millions of birds die by crashing into glazed buildings, but Germany’s Arnold Glas have developed a glass more visible to our feathered friends.
Called Ornilux, the glass has been installed in the lookout tower and visitors centre on Holy Island, at Lindisfarne.
Ornilux is part of a new movement called bio-mimicry where science and art emulates nature’s best biological ideas to solve human problems.
Birds unlike humans have the ability to see light in the ultra-violet spectrum and in nature Orb Weaver spiders incorporate UV reflective strands of silk in their webs, so birds will not fly through and destroy them. Like the Orb Weaver web the Ornilux glazing has a web of lines coated onto the glass which are barely discernible to humans but reflect the UV light, alerting birds to the presence of glass.
Dave Wyatt, Head of the Arnold Group’s UK operations said: “The project at Lindisfarne is our first use of the bird saving or Ornilux glass in the UK. It’s a system which has been in development for years and through extensive testing we have seen the glazing significantly reduce bird strikes.
“Ornilux has already seen considerable success in the US, being used in a number of high profile buildings and winning a number of international awards. We are now keen to see the UK adopt a similarly progressive approach to protect bird populations.”
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Manufacturers of Ornilux, The Arnold Group, are based in Germany and employ more than 1,200 staff across over six facilities with a turnover of approximately 150m euros. The firm is a specialist in several glazing ranges including bird protection glass, vacuum heat insulation glass, solar control glass and structural glass facades.

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