First Central, Park Royal

Challenge

Installation of 119 Glide-On™ balconies at Dan Court, First Central, a new residential development in North West London. Schoeck cast-in anchors were installed to provide a connection and a thermal break. The concrete casting had taken place without the use of templates, meaning that some anchors weren’t correctly positioned.

Solution

Sapphire’s innovative balcony system allows for a tolerance of +/- 20mm, which traditional steel bolt-on balconies don’t provide. By using Sapphire’s Cassette® balconies. they were able to be fitted the first time. The balconies for First Central were also fitted with a positive drainage system to a soffit tray, reducing the risk of façade staining and water falling through the deck onto the residents below. With many balconies over 6m² this also fulfilled the NHBC drainage requirements for flat roofs and balconies. The drainage connections, along with the extract vents from the building, were contained within a hidden void added to the underside of the Cassette®.

Sapphire manufactured balconies for First Central at its Winchester production facility while balcony connections were being completed on site. The scheme used cast-in Schoeck anchors to provide a thermal break and Sapphire’s brackets connected directly to these, taking the bracket from the thermal break within the cavity to outside of the finished façade.

By taking a ‘modular’ manufacturing approach Sapphire is able to maximise the efficiencies associated with producing standard, repeatable balcony units, whilst still allowing design variations to meet specific project requirements. Eight different balcony widths were specified for First Central ranging from 3.3m to 5.3m to suit apartment size.

Installation process

Step 1: The scheme used cast-in Shoeck anchors to provide a thermal break and Sapphire’s brackets connected directly to these, taking the bracket from the thermal break within the cavity to outside of the finished façade.

Step 2: Sapphire manufactured Cassette® balconies for First Central at its Winchester production facility while balcony connections were completed on-site.

Step 3: Off-site production enabled the factory finished Cassette® balconies to be delivered to site, ready for install team to take over.

Step 4: Using Sapphire’s innovative counter-balance technology, the balconies were simply glided onto the pre-installed brackets, with installers inside the building.