Bilanco Blinds recently installed four crank-operated R56 overhead roller blinds within the main café of the Falkirk Wheel’s Visitor Centre in Scotland.

The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift in the world, transporting boats from the Union Canal 35 metres down to the Forth & Clyde Canal below. The unique structure is an example of incredible engineering that eliminates the need to open and close 44 lock canal gates.

The blind installation

The on-site café has a prime view of the Wheel and serves a large number of visitors each day. The café had a major problem with glare and heat entering through the large glass roof, especially in summer, creating the need to install blinds on the sloping roof. The image below shows what the windows looked like before the installation.

FALKIRK WHEEL SLOPING WINDOW 2 OF 2

Management at the café were given the option of a fixed solution to block the windows but they decided to have blinds installed instead to ensure they could control the amount of natural light entering and keep the blinds open in winter.

Robertson Construction were the main contractor refurbishing the café. They subcontracted the blinds installation to our customer, Bilanco Blinds.

Bilanco Blind’s Sales Manager, Robert said, “The Yewdale crank blinds were ideal for the steep slope on the window. The café now has an effective solution to combat the sun’s heat and glare, and they are still able to open the blinds on cooler days to expose the view of the Falkirk Wheel and basin.”

IMAGE 3 THE FALKIRK WHEEL

We manufactured four tensioned overhead roller blinds with our Roe 1% screen fabric in mid-grey. Due to the blinds being located in a café, our Roe fabric was a great choice because it is fire retardant and Biosafe®, meaning its antimicrobial. The fabric is able to prevent glare and reduce solar heating, as shown in the images which were taken on a very sunny day.

IMAGE 5 THE FALKIRK WHEEL

Silver teardrop bottom bars and brackets were specified, plus a 2.7m long crank for the top tier blinds and a 1.2m crank for the bottom tier blinds. The R56 overhead roller blind is supplied as standard with a detachable magnet crank, which is very important in installations like this where a hanging crank would be hazardous. 

Summary

If you have a commercial installation coming up, we can supply you with made-to-measure blinds under shorter lead times than the industry average. Not only this, our Elite delivery vans cover most of England and guarantee a smooth delivery from a friendly Yewdale team member. You can even request a specific time for the delivery which we will endeavour to accommodate.

Please get in touch with us now for a next-day quote or apply for a trade credit account here.