Lifesaving DuPont protective glass technology used at Miami's new US Federal Courthouse has been recognized by the nonprofit Protecting People First Foundation with its Safety Award. 

The US General Services Administration was awarded the honor for the new Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse, the first in the country designed to withstand both bomb blasts and hurricane-force winds.  The new building, the largest federal courthouse in the United States, spanning two city blocks, meets Miami's stringent hurricane codes as well as US government security standards for blast mitigation. The courthouse is part of the GSA’s Design Excellence Program, which commissions designers and artists to improve the design and quality of federal buildings.

“We take very seriously our responsibility to construct government buildings and facilities that provide a safe environment for employees, as well as the public,” said Edwin E. Fielder, Jr., regional administrator of GSA’s Southeast Sunbelt Regional Office. 

DuPont Butacite® and SentryGlas® Plus laminated glass interlayers are integral to the courthouse design in windows supplied by glass fabricator Viracon Inc.

Founded in 2000, in the wake of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City, the Protecting People First Foundation has advocated the use of new technologies to make buildings safer.

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09/06

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