Service
Emergency glazing and board-up
Emergency glazing is the immediate response to broken glass on a commercial building: make the area safe, remove the remaining glass, and secure the opening the same visit. Permanent replacement glass follows once it has been made to size.
Free measured survey · fixed written quotation
- Free measured site survey
- Fixed written quotation
- Mainland UK coverage
- Commercial specialists only
- 24-hour emergency response
What happens on the first visit
The immediate job is safety and security, not appearance. Loose and hanging glass comes out, the area is cleared, and the opening is closed with board, steel or polycarbonate depending on how exposed the unit is and whether it needs to trade the next morning.
We measure for the permanent glass on that same visit and photograph the damage before anything is disturbed, so the insurance position is documented from the start.
Trading through the repair
A boarded shopfront tells the street the unit is shut. Where a retail or hospitality unit needs to keep trading, clear polycarbonate secured into the existing rebate keeps the frontage visible and lit while the replacement glass is made.
It costs a little more than boarding and it is almost always the right call on a customer-facing elevation.
The insurance paperwork matters more than people expect
Most commercial claims are slowed down by missing evidence rather than by the claim itself. We photograph before and after, record the make-safe method, and issue a written report identifying the damage and the replacement specification.
That is normally all an insurer needs, and having it on the day rather than a week later is the difference between a fast settlement and a long one.
Specification
| Response | 24 hours a day, 365 days a year |
|---|---|
| First visit | Make safe, clear glass, secure the opening |
| Securing methods | Timber board, steel screen or temporary polycarbonate |
| Temporary glazing | Clear polycarbonate where a unit must stay trading |
| Permanent glass | Ordered on the same visit from measured sizes |
| Documentation | Photographs and a written report for the insurer |
| Typical replacement | 5–10 working days for toughened or laminated to size |
| Coverage | Mainland UK |
Indicative rate
Make-safe and board-up of a standard opening. Height access, large or multiple openings, steel screens and permanent glass are quoted separately.
Indicative range for budgeting — not a quotation
Emergency glazing and board-up — common questions
How quickly can you attend a broken shopfront?
Will the glass be replaced on the first visit?
Can you make the unit secure without boarding it up?
Do you deal with the insurer directly?
Is emergency glazing more expensive than planned work?
Related
Where this comes up
Retail and high street
Retail glazing is judged on two things: how the frontage looks from twenty feet away, and how fast it can be made secure at two in the morning.
Industrial and logistics
Industrial glazing is mostly about two things people rarely think of as glazing: daylight through the roof, and keeping a warehouse operating while any of it is replaced.
Public sector and local authority
Public estates need two things from a glazing contractor that private clients rarely ask for: documentation that survives an audit, and a reactive service that can attend a vandalised building on a bank holiday.
Other services
Curtain walling
Curtain walling is a non-loadbearing aluminium and glass facade hung off the structural frame of a building.
Commercial shopfronts
A commercial shopfront is the glazed street elevation of a retail or hospitality unit, normally thermally broken aluminium framing with toughened or laminated safety glass, an accessible entrance door and, on most units, a security shutter or grille.
Structural glazing
Structural glazing carries load through the glass itself rather than through a surrounding frame.
Tell us what the building needs
Free measured survey, fixed written quotation, and a straight answer about what is and is not worth doing. Mainland UK, commercial work only.