Modern construction is increasingly using glass to provide more natural light in homes and offices. But the use of double-glazed glass partitions also helps reduce sound transmission, which is increasingly useful as the populations of busy inner cities rise.
If there are two residential trends that have stood out in recent years, they have been the growth of urban living, especially in city centres and areas near them, plus the use of structural glass on a large scale.
How Much Have UK City Populations Grown?
The first of these can be seen in the population data, showing where the growth has been fastest. At the last census, double-digit population growth areas included the following local authorities:
- Tower Hamlets (22.1 per cent, the highest increase in the UK)
- Barking & Dagenham (17.7 per cent)
- Newham (14 per cent)
- Greenwich (13.6 per cent)
- Double-digit increases in the London boroughs of Redbridge, Havering, Sutton, Hounslow and Hillingdon
- Salford (15.4 per cent)
- Bristol (10.3 per cent)
- Leicester (11.8 per cent)
Other major cities saw slower growth, although Manchester saw a surge of 19 per cent in its population in the decade up to the 2011 Census.
While the population patterns are far from uniform – three inner London boroughs actually saw declines at the 2021 census – the overall trend in urban areas is clear. Moreover, this is not for the most part due to the building of suburban homes in outlying areas.
Where Are Cities Adding More Homes?
Instead of a ‘flight to the suburbs’, the growth of cities is increasingly driven by the rise in city centre living and ‘brownfield first’ building policies.
Manchester and Salford are prime examples of this, while much of the rapid growth in Tower Hamlets has been driven by the construction of residential skyscrapers and other apartment blocks.
However, there is more to glass than the external glazing on sleek towers rising into the sky. Living in the heart of a busy and increasingly crowded city with a soaring population density brings a major contrast to living in quiet suburbs.
For that reason, the widespread use of interior glass partitions does not just allow lots of natural light to filter through the building, a great attribute though this is, but also helps reduce noise, adding to the benefit of double-glazed windows.
How Can Glazed Partitions Keep The Noise Down In Busy Urban Areas?
Double-glazed partitions can be even better at this and may be extremely useful for this purpose, whether in a busy city centre office or in a nearby apartment block.
It means that even if the building lies close to somewhere particularly noisy like a main road, a railway line or a busy entertainment venue, you can avoid being disturbed by the excess noise.
Moreover, because it does allow more light in, a glass partition can help to compensate for the overshadowing effect that may be part of city life, as nearby large buildings cast a shadow, albeit that there are some planning law constraints on this.
The usefulness of internal glazed partitions will only grow as more city centres expand, as Manchester is doing with new districts such as Ancoats, Strangeways and parts of Hulme being added, or Leeds with the development of the ‘South Bank’ across the River Aire.
Indeed, this will increasingly occur further out from the centre, with Greater Manchester’s major upcoming developments including large apartment schemes in the centres of Chorlton and Stretford, plus the future Old Trafford regeneration.
The same will apply in London, where the increases in the populations of Tower Hamlets and Newham reflect a shift in its population growth towards the east as the population is projected to rise to 10 million in the 2030s.
Why Won’t Expanding Cities Build All Their New Homes In The Suburbs?
How things develop in other big cities may vary, not least as the definition of a big city is somewhat fluid. This may be especially so with government plans to extend the boundaries of medium-sized cities like Nottingham and Leicester.
In the case of Leicester, this will raise the population from 372,000 to 623,000, absorbing many towns and villages in surrounding areas.
This might suggest that future homebuilding will be concentrated in areas newly added to these expanding cities on the rural and semi-rural fringes.
However, while there may be some developments out there (and interminable arguments about green belt intrusion), it should be noted that these boundary expansions echo those applied to cities like Salford, Leeds and Bradford in the 1970s.
Any visitor to Leeds or Salford today will see that it is in the central areas, not the semi-rural fringes, that major developments and large population increases have been taking place.
Of course, suburban homes may still benefit from internal glass partitions, especially when allowing natural light through, but their greatest benefits will remain in urban residential developments, where the need to maximise light and curb noise will be the greatest.
