Sapphire balconies bring urban village design to life

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The architectural vision for Acton Gardens, an award-winning urban village in West London, has been brought to life with 87 bespoke balconies designed, manufactured and installed by Sapphire’s team of experts.

The project’s key design challenges were to improve privacy for residents and reduce the effect of wind felt on balconies to higher floors. Since specifying laminate glass balustrades to address these concerns was not an option due to the combustible cladding ban, Sapphire worked with the project architects to devise a solution that would maintain both compliance and aesthetics. Sapphire’s designers created a unique balcony solution featuring vertical bar balustrades with an internal and external mesh panel to the bottom, together with matching privacy screens. A bronze metallic powder coating to balcony guarding, toprail and fascia trim adds a unique finish that complements the warm tones of the façade and gives the whole building a golden glow.

Balconies for Acton Gardens were produced using Sapphire’s Glide-OnTM aluminium Cassette® system utilising the latest offsite manufacturing techniques. Having tested the balconies against the highest specifications and quality standards, Sapphire’s logistics team ensured smooth delivery of the preassembled Cassettes® to site, ready for installation. Upon arrival, balconies were lifted out of the lorries and installed directly onto the pre-erected support arms, reducing time and effort on site.

Using Sapphire’s innovative Glide-On™ balcony Cassette® system at Acton Gardens had numerous benefits for the project contractors. It helped reduce time on site as balconies arrived on site fully assembled, cutting down on installation time. Delivering the balconies just before installation also minimised the need for on-site storage. Additionally, producing Cassettes® in a factory environment ensured a high level of quality control during manufacturing and assembly.

Offsite manufacturing also helped reduce costs while increasing the quality of the finished balconies. As a further benefit, Sapphire’s Glide-On™ method of balcony installation reduced the duration of scaffolding on-site, resulting in a direct cost saving to the contractor. The easy installation process also eliminated the need for workers on-site, minimising the risks involved while working at height. For more information please visit www.sapphire.eu.com