Grand Central Terminal
New York, NY
Nature of Project
Blast mitigation
Mesh screen fabrication and installation
Scope of Project
Install fragment retention film on 5,000 windows in main terminal. Replace or repair cracked or broken glass. Install polycarbonate to exterior of 688 skylights; fabricate and install stainless steel mesh screens to skylight interiors.
Type of Film Installed
11-mil clear fragment retention film [main terminal]
Project Challenges
Grand Central Terminal is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. It's also one of the busiest. The terminal is packed from morning to night with New Yorkers and visitors catching trains and subways, and shoppers visiting its many stores and restaurants. Commercial Window Shield had to perform its complicated work without disturbing the flow of the pedestrian traffic. Additionally, because of the significance of the building, every task had to be delicately handled to preserve the historic architecture. Other challenges included developing a net system to capture dust and debris from the work being done high above the terminal floor – over a pair of popular, crowded restaurants - and utilizing a 50-foot boom lift to access the windows. Multiple windows required replacing broken glass. Many of these panels were glazed using glazing compound containing asbestos which had to be properly remediated.
Project Detail
Nearly 50,000 square feet of glass was protected by fragment retention film. Commercial Window Shield’s fabrication of and complicated installation of plastic panels to protect the exterior of the terminal’s 688 skylights underscored the complexity of the project, which was completed on time and widely praised by the client.