JB/Smith

JB/Smith

Washington, D.C. metro area

Nature of Project

For one of the nation's largest commercial building owners and property management firms, Commercial Window Shield has installed fragment retention security window film and reflective sun control film on more than 30 JB/Smith buildings in Washington and Northern Virginia since 2008.

Washington, D.C. metro area  For one of the nation's largest commercial building owners and property management firms, Commercial Window Shield has installed fragment retention security window film and reflective sun control film on more than 30 JB/Smith buildings in Washington and Northern Virginia since 2008. Project
For one of the nation's largest commercial building owners and property management firms, Commercial Window Shield has installed fragment retention security window film and reflective sun control film on more than 30 JB/Smith buildings in Washington and Northern Virginia since 2008.Installation Project

Project Challenges

A number of JB/Smith buildings are occupied by federal government agencies and are located near Reagan National Airport. The resulting loud noise from the airliners adversely impacts the quality of the buildings' space. As a result, many of the windows are outfitted with special glazing to enhance sound reduction. In these projects, Commercial Window Shield disassembles the glass system prior to installing the security window film and film attachment system in order to meet GSA's strict requirements for blast protection. Other JB/Smith projects have called for structural elements to be added to make the window system secure. In some instances, Commercial Window Shield has had to rebuild parts of the windows. These challenges, and the creative solutions developed, demonstrate Commercial Window Shield's ability to successfully handle a wide variety of window security projects.

Project Detail

In 2008, while installing fragment retention film on a JB/Smith [formerly Vornado] building at Skyline Plaza in Fairfax, Va., Commercial Window Shield was asked to re-install window film on another JB/Smith building in Crystal City. That project, the result of a GSA-mandated lease renewal security requirement, was directed by a general contractor who hired a window film installer not qualified for the project. After viewing Commercial Window Shield’s work on the Skyline Plaza building, JB/Smith officials realized the window film on the Crystal City building had been incorrectly installed on the interior surface of a removable interior glass panel. The panel should have been removed and the film installed on the interior surface of the exterior pane. Had this not been discovered and corrected by Commercial Window Shield, and had there been an explosion in the building, the occupants would not have been properly protected. From that point on, JB/Smith decision makers decided they weren’t comfortable using any other company to do their glass protection work. JB/Smith no longer allows its general contractors to handle the glass protection. Rather, JB/Smith contracts directly with Commercial Window Shield for all of its glass protection work. The company works closely with JB/Smith contractors to coordinate the work.