An 1880's rebuild following fire created the sturdy kauri and multiple brick exterior that still remains, while a 1972 refurbishment overhauled the interior.

Now a function venue and Monteith’s Craft Bar, the bar again underwent renovation in 2009 – a subtle, modern facelift to the converted office space that surrounds it.

The key feature is a modern glass facade that complements the historic late-Victorian motif.

“Like a lot of inner city sites, the Drake was narrow-faced and deep,” says Colin Leuschke, director of leading architectural practice Leuschke Group who handled the renovation. "We wanted to maximise light into the building and the use of glass."

“We also wanted to open the building to natural fresh air, so we needed to have glass to keep out the weather, to stop you falling out of the building, and we also had glass fins that gave some solar protection and decoration to the facade.”

Metro GlassTech designed and supplied the glass fins for the facade using 21.5mm toughened laminated safety glass, incorporating special EVA interlayer, and a fading dot pattern print – the first time for New Zealand – as well as a new fitting design combination.

The company engineered the glass and fin connection using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) modelling. As the fitting of the balustrades and glass fins to the structural floor slab was cramped and complex, product testing results and FEA modelling data was also used on the development of the balustrades to simplify the fixing to the facade.

“We had a lot of technical investigation,” says Mr Leuschke. “Because we had a limited amount of fixing points and a concentration of reinforcing bars and we needed a product that would be held and positioned on small areas of concrete that had a lot of obstruction from reinforcing bars.”

Metro GlassTech’s fitting solution was a reversible base plate on the Metro Frameless Glass PF150.

The PF150 is a face-fixed balustrade fitting in a polished chrome, modern finish. It is able to adapt to single or double point fixing to decks, stairways and balustrades at 400mm maximum centres.

“We used the PF150 because it has one single fixing point so we could fix it to concrete without interrupting the rebars,” says Mr Leuschke, “and that gave us the flexibility to then position the bigger fins for holding the large glass exterior fins and solar controls."

“The key benefits of the PF150 is the flexibility it allows for positioning the fixing. You can place it in a number of positions yet the fixing to the glass remains constant, so it is a far more flexible fixing technique than previously enjoyed.”

The final result is a sleek and minimal system for any balustrade or stairway. A new look satin bead blast is standard, plus it can also be powder coated to any colour or polished.

This was only the second large project the new Metro Frameless Glass PF150 has been used in and also the first time AGA SP227/66 stud post fitting have been used to support glass fins.

“The aesthetic is excellent,” points out Mr Leuschke. “If you look at the photographs of the Drake we have the very strong stainless steel fixings for the vertical and horizontal fins and you hardly notice the PF150 as they sit subtly behind the glass work. Although we have two lots of stainless fixings, the final look is quite elegant, very organised and very tidy."

“We consulted Metro GlassTech early in the project and they offered solutions which enabled us to consolidate the design. I think that without their input the building would not be the way it is.”