EYG Commercial awarded contract to re-glaze landmark Hull building Europa House

18th March 2024

EYG Commercial has been awarded the contract to re-glaze Europa House – one of the city’s most iconic and recognisable buildings.

The five-story office complex, which dominates the corner of Anlaby Road and Ferensway in the city centre and is to be renamed ‘Monocle’, is being brought back into use thanks to an extensive redevelopment led by another Hull business, Allenby Commercial.

Famed for its golden and silver-tinged reflective appearance, the 1970s building will now be given a modern and vibrant new look by the EYG Commercial team.

The project will see specially manufactured solar glass panels installed to prevent thermal build-up inside the office space, with clear glazing replacing the reflective glass, to give the building a ‘modern appearance’.

‘Breathing new life into a landmark building’

Richard Saunders, sales and estimating director at EYG Commerical, says 1800m² of curtain walling, windows and doors, including more than 400 1m x2.6m glazed units, are now in the design stage at the company’s manufacturing site in Wiltshire Road, with a view to starting installation on site in May.

The full glazing project will take about six months to complete.

“We are delighted to have secured this contact with Allenby Commercial to breathe new life into what is such a landmark building in our city,” said Mr Saunders.

“Obviously, this is a high-profile job given how well-known the building is, and how many people pass it each and every day as they head in and out of the city centre. We know people will be watching on with interest as our teams begin work.

“We have had to design a glazing solution which firstly performs in terms of ensuring it provides a comfortable environment for those inside, and that is where there will be a significant improvement from the past given the advancements in glazing technology over the past five decades.

“Also, there has been a focus on ensuring the building will retain its striking and impressive appearance on the outside, which with thin metallic painted framing around the glazing, we are all confident it will do. It will have a really modern feel.

“We are very proud to be working alongside another Hull business to transform the building and make it once again stand out as something special, as we are sure it was when it was built back in 1973.”

Site could house around 600 office staff

Allenby Commercial purchased the site in 2018. The redevelopment could house up to 600 occupants after being revamped into Grade A managed office space, with Paul Swallow, contracts director at the business, saying the aim is to ‘reintegrate the building with the city’ and have office space available by early 2025.

“The building has become iconic due to its distinctive reflective windows, but the impact of that was actually a lack of natural light inside the building itself, and therefore it was not the best of working environments.

(Artist’s impression of what the building will look like, pictured above).

“The new high-efficiency glazing will be floor to ceiling and for the first time people outside will be able to see the activity within the building, so there will be a connection between the outside and those working inside, which will give it a completely different look and feel.

“We chose EYG Commercial as we know them well, we know the quality of their products and their fitting teams, and have confidence in them to deliver on what is the biggest project we have taken on as a business.

“It’s also another long-established Hull business, which feels right on such a well-known Hull development.”

EYG continues to enjoy success after more than 50 years

Established in 1971, EYG Commercial is one of the leading fabricators and installers of aluminium and UPVC products in the UK, and a one-stop shop for the construction industry, delivering projects in sectors including health, housing, hospitality, education retail and office build.

The business also supply windows, doors and conservatories to hundreds of homeowners across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire each year, manufactured in its own 70,000 sq ft factory.

The firm has previously been chosen to install sound-proof windows in airport hotels, to glaze international airports and exclusive London apartment complexes.

The contract for Europa House builds on a great start to the financial year for the business, which has been buoyed by increasing success in suppling specialist housebuilders across Yorkshire.