WHEN contractors behind a £35million engineering innovation centre wanted a clear solution on how it would all fit together they called in the experts.

And staff at Osbaldeston-based Altitude Glass devised a way of ensuring the UCLan facility in Preston was both striking and pragmatic.

Architects had asked designers at the Longsight Road based firm to come up with a 11 metre by three metre glass wall, with two pivoting doors in the centre, separating out a technician's office from the main workshop, as one challenge.

The end result has earned praise from the project's managers and has helped to give the centre an intriguing look.

Sharon Snape, Altitude's managing director, said: "Our work has involved installing glass partitions which create a really stunning look, bringing in lots of light, and separating spaces, but also creating a link between them."

She told the Telegraph while the glass wall request was "technically challenging", they were able to come up with a design which tied the area together.

David Marsden, contracts manager at R Walker and Sons, said the combined area needed to be "practical but also very stylish".

He added: "The architectural glass within the building plays a key part of this, linking spaces together and pulling natural light into all the different zones on the ground floor.

"It was fantastic working with Altitude Glass. They provided unrivalled expertise and developed some excellent solutions to the challenges that arose from installing large internal walls of glass in areas with exposed ceiling work."