Vetrotech Saint-Gobain (a unit of Saint-Gobain Glass), the leader in the manufacture of fire resistant glasses for over 30 years across the globe, will now manufacture the "world's toughest fire resistant glass" - Contraflam, in Chennai, India.

A spate of unfortunate fire tragedies in the recent time has underlined the urgent need to use safe building materials that provide credible barriers to the spread of fire and smoke. While opaque construction materials that offer passive fire protection are already available in India, architects and builders have repeatedly expressed the desire to use transparent fire protection material that does not compromise with their design intent or fire safety requirements. With a view to addressing this important need, Vetrotech Saint-Gobain has started manufacturing its most advanced fire resistant glasses right here in India.

Vetrotech Saint-Gobain is a specialized business unit within the Saint-Gobain group, which is solely dedicated to R&D, testing, manufacturing, sales and marketing of Fire resistant glasses. The new production line, situated within Saint-Gobain's "World Glass Complex" at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, was inaugurated by Mr Jean Pierre Floris, President, Innovative Material Sector, Saint-Gobain. This investment is part of a total investment of Rs 60 crores in the advanced glass solutions facility spanning an area of 90000 sq.ft within the World Glass Complex.

The Contraflam range of fire resistant glass that will be manufactured here is the "World's toughest fire resistant glass". Based on a specialised interlayered tempered glass technology, these glasses have been tested as per the most stringent International standards in a variety of applications. These glasses have to be used as part of a tested system to get the right fire performance and hence Vetrotech Saint-Gobain has also tied up with various system providers to provide a complete "system solution" to customers. The Chennai production site of Vetrotech Saint-Gobain will be unique in the world in that it will be independently certified by both UL and CE certification entities and the products made here will carry both the CE and UL marks. These products are also covered under the Exova Warringtonfire "Certifire" scheme.

Today we find the use of fire resistant glass in hotels, refuge terraces of tall buildings, airports, hospitals, education institutions, data server rooms, malls and multiplexes, IT buildings, office spaces - indeed any area that has to be compartmentalized and fire rated. Most corporates, architects and builders use fire resistant glass because it provides "visual security". The availability of these state-of-the-art products in India marks yet another milestone in the efforts of Saint-Gobain to make available to the customers of today, products of tomorrow.