Services · Facade systems
Two systems
They are different systems, not interchangeable names. Which one suits a building comes down to programme, budget, structure and the facade the architect has drawn. We install both, and we will tell you plainly which one your drawings are asking for.
Curtain Wall
A continuous skin that spans floor to floor and is anchored back to the slab edge. The structure sits behind the glass, so the facade reads as one uninterrupted plane.
Commercial office, institutional, feature facades where the architect wants no visible slab line
Stick (assembled on site) or unitised (factory-built panels, craned in)
Unitised is fast on site; stick needs more site hours but suits irregular geometry
Thermal, acoustic and wind-load performance engineered into the system and the anchors
Window wall
Framing bears on each floor slab and the slab edge is expressed, usually behind a spandrel or cladding. Faster to install, simpler to sequence, and the standard system on Queensland multi-residential.
Apartments, mixed-use, hotels, most multi-residential towers
Floor-by-floor installation as each slab is released
Closes the building behind the slab cycle; fitout trades can start below while the structure continues above
Thermally broken framing and performance glass to meet Section J on residential energy targets
In delivery
Eleven storeys of residential over a ground-floor retail podium. Two contracts across the one building: installation of all glazing for the tower, and supply and install of the ground floor and rooftop window wall.
Scope
Installation, all levels. Supply and install, ground floor and rooftop window wall, 4000+m2 of glazing product
System
150mm Double glazed Framing
Status
Completed Sep 26
The Lanes, West End.
The perks
One contract, one team. Everything between the architect’s facade drawings and the certifier’s sign-off.
01
Frame layouts, anchor details, wind-load and deflection engineering, and thermal and acoustic performance resolved against the Section J and acoustic reports before anything is cut.
02
Framing fabricated in our own 600m² facility to the programme dates in the contract. You are welcome to walk through and see your frames on the bench.
03
Performance glass specified to the report: Low-E, laminated, acoustic and double-glazed units as the spec requires. AS 1288 throughout.
04
Frames and glass delivered in floor lots to match the slab cycle, not dumped on site in one go. Less handling, less breakage, less laydown area.
05
The same team that fabricated the frames installs them. Floor by floor as the structure is released, coordinated with your site manager.
06
AS 2047 compliance, glazing certificates and Form 15 and Form 16 documentation handed over with the work, so the certifier has it before practical completion.
Facade work
Window wall, 11 storeys
4-storey residential
Multi-residential
Why Surefit for the facade
The facade is the critical path to lockup. When a glazing contractor slips, the fitout trades cannot start and liquidated damages become a live conversation. We run our own production schedule, so your programme goes in the day we sign and it does not move for someone else’s job.
We fabricate the frames and we install them. No handover between a supplier and an installer, so no gap for a problem to fall into.
25 in-house staff and a 600m² facility. The Lanes and Brisbane Domestic Terminal are running at the same time.
Section J, acoustic, wind load and DA conditions resolved at shop drawing stage. AS 1288, AS 2047 and AS 1428 as standard.
Lee Rawnsley prices the package, walks the site and takes the call. No account manager in between.
Five scopes, one factory, one crew.
01
Multi-residential and commercial facades, supply and install. In delivery now at The Lanes, West End, across 11 storeys.
02
Shopfront suites, aluminium doors, frameless and automatic entries, gas strut windows. Delivered for Integral Constructions at 4 Pines, DFO Brisbane.
03
Glazed partitions, mirrors and the full glazing scope of a commercial fitout under one contract.
04
Framing and glazing structures made in our own 600m² facility. New-build residential windows and doors for builders sit here.
05
Thermally broken framing, acoustic and Section J compliant glazing, specified into the package before a frame is cut.
Questions builders ask us
Curtain wall hangs off the face of the structure and spans floor to floor as a continuous skin. Window wall sits between the slabs and bears on each one. Window wall is generally faster and less expensive to install and is common on multi-residential. Curtain wall gives a cleaner, uninterrupted facade and is more common on commercial. We install both.
Stick is assembled on site, mullion by mullion, then glazed. Unitised is built into complete panels in the factory and craned into place. Unitised is faster on site and more consistent; stick suits smaller or irregular facades. The right answer depends on programme, crane access and the building geometry, and we will give it to you at pricing.
Frames are delivered in floor lots and installed as each slab is released, so the building closes behind the slab cycle rather than waiting for the structure to top out. Fitout trades can start on lower levels while we are still installing above.
Both. Most packages are supply and install, fabricated at Coopers Plains and installed by our own crew. Where a builder has already procured the system, we take installation only, as we did at AWAKEN Residences for McNab.
Section J sets the energy performance the envelope has to achieve. On most Queensland commercial and multi-residential projects the glazing cannot meet it without thermally broken framing and performance glass. We work from the Section J report at shop drawing stage, so the system is compliant before fabrication starts, not after.
Got a question the articles do not answer?
The fastest way to a plain answer is to show us the project. Priced scope back, with the reasoning.
