Let the light shine in

Window walls created by high-strength steel framing use natural light to brighten welcoming and healthy work environments.

Modern workplaces are continually adapting to employee needs. Not every employee can work at home so employers must build welcoming workplace to help attract and retain productive teams. 

Regardless of the type of work, people no longer want to work in dark and gloomy claustrophobic spaces that harken back to industrial-age factories. The current workplace demands spaces be bright, filled with natural light. More and more, businesses are responding by incorporating walls of windows into their environments that allow healthy and motivating sunlight and beautiful, inspiring vistas.

When it comes to building or expanding your facilities, only the strength of steel-framing allows for more glass and more natural light into your building. Your business can enjoy the health benefits of more light for employees and improved business results (higher production, utility savings, fire prevention). Working with Summit Steel Buildings and their team of design experts allows you to create these welcoming settings and more sophisticated architectural designs that entice visitors and make the workplace more productive.

[The featured photo is of FCMP Outdoor's head office and warehouse building in Thorndale, Ontario. For more information on that project, please read our business case study or visit the photo gallery of the secondary addition we built in the fall and winter of 2022. Watch our drone fly-through video of the entire building at our engineering page.]

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The benefits of more natural light in the workplace

Access to natural light and outdoors views are the number one demanded feature of the workplace environment, outranking onsite cafeterias, fitness centres and even premium perks such as on-site childcare, according to research cited in Harvard Business Review. 

It’s no wonder natural light in the workplace is in so much demand with a greater number of steel buildings being built with larger expanses of glass. The benefits to both employees and employers are significant and proven to enhance personal and financial results: 

• Higher productivity: Employees exposed to natural light enjoy longer and deeper sleep and are more satisfied overall. Happy employees report less eye strain and fewer headaches (a Cornell study concludes an 84% drop), more alertness and more attention to detail – leading to fewer mistakes. Even a 2% increase in productivity translates into millions of payroll savings and increases to revenue. If employees spend over five hours per day at their desk, access to natural lights can have a big impact to business bottom line through employees’ work performance, well-being (fewer sick days!) and higher engagement. 
• Greater sales: In a Walmart experiment, Pacific Gas & Electric tested how natural lighting affected sales. The study concluded that sales in stores with skylights were 40% higher than those using fluorescent lighting.
• Lower ongoing costs: Walls of glass help moderate internal temperatures and reduce the need (and cost) of environmental control. Utility costs drop. Contemporary treated glass surfaces prevent heat loss in winter and can be used to help regulate internal temperatures during warmer summer months. They can also be energy controlled to vary the amount of sunlight that comes through. Large panes of glass create bright, well-lit spaces with lower costs. Artificial lighting can account for about a third of electrical use in commercial buildings.
• Higher property values: Natural lighting makes spaces seem more open and inviting; as such, potential tenants are willing to pay at least two to four dollars per square foot more than for office space with little or no natural lighting. Naturally lit spaces also rent faster, earning more overall revenue than spaces sitting on market empty longer. 
• Fire prevention: Exterior glass walls are designed with fire-resistant glazing to comply with emergency regulations and enhance workplace safety. Walls of glass aren’t used just on exterior surfaces; they can be used inside buildings for beautiful architectural aesthetics that also serve as fire barriers and thermal breaks. Of course, glass is only one part of a fire-resistant safety system. However, steel framing systems (which allow for wide-open spaces) are more tolerant to higher temperatures and prevent the spread of any fire, especially to adjacent buildings. All these fire-rated systems can be seamlessly built into attractive designs. 

How steel framing allows for the weight of so much glass

Glass is very heavy. Large walls of seamless, weather-sealed, glazed glass systems, which provide all that natural daylight and energy efficiency, are incredibly more so. Your building’s solid concrete foundation, steel beam framing and steel panels create the strength to support it all. Steel’s high strength-to-weight ratio makes it all possible – while also allowing the structure to be built faster and more affordably than by using traditional methods.

And traditional building materials, such as brick and mortar, timber or engineered wood products cannot be constructed with the same level of precision and stability, especially within a manner that permits modern, complex designs. Architects can integrate expansive glass façades into other eye-catching features such as cantilevers, decks, walkways and exposed steelwork to make your commercial building really stand out.

Beautiful design is important; strength is essential. Structural steel and pre-engineered panel systems are connected with an accuracy that actually reinforces exteriors to protection against high winds, all levels of precipitation and extreme temperatures. Steel engineering’s strength is a barrier against outside threats while still allowing for the beautiful views and natural light that afford so many benefits.