Local Blackfriars, Salford

Local Blackfriars otherwise known as Trinity is a high-rise residential scheme made up of 380 apartments with communal facilities including reception, a laundrette, cinema room, fitness studio, bike storage and car parking space. The space between buildings makes up an ‘urban orchard’ and provides residents with an enjoyable outdoor recreational area.

The scheme incorporates the grade II listed Black Friar pub, becoming the main entrance and providing communal facilities such as a party room and management offices.

Challenge

The key challenge at Local Blackfriars was the use of concrete wall panels. The challenge here was finding a way to fix the balcony arms to the panels while ensuring the rigidity of the balcony met our Rigid.Ready.Right. brand promise.

The other challenge on this project was working with the concrete wall panel install schedule which required the use of the site crane during the week while keeping the project programme on track.

Solution

A cast-in bracket was designed into the wall panels to allow the arms to be fixed without any connection back to the slab. By successfully casting the brackets into precast walls we avoided the need for costly thermal breaks and avoided penetrating fire barriers, therefore eliminating the need for fire stopping around balcony brackets.

These custom designed brackets were shipped to the concrete wall panel manufacturer’s factory in Dublin to be cast in before shipping to site in Manchester.

This innovative solution resulted in some of the most rigid balconies installed to date (far exceeding our guaranteed L/360) and an average of almost 30 installed a day!

The delivery schedule was also arranged primarily on weekends to coordinate with the use of the crane during the week for the concrete panels, allowing the install programme to work harmoniously.

Installation Process

Step 1: An innovative bracket was designed to be cast-in to the MMC concrete wall panels. The brackets were then manufactured and cast-in prior to being transported to Manchester for install.

Step 2: Cassette® balconies were prefinished offsite at our production facility in Staffordshire, including the balustrades, decking and soffits.

Step 3: Cassette® balconies were transported in coordination with other trades and crane availability with balconies ‘nested’ onto each pallet making transport both cost effective and safe. Balconies were pre-slung offsite ready for installation upon arrival.

Step 4: Once lifted into position, the Cassettes® simply Glide-On™ to the pre-erected support arms, before completing the simple mechanical fixings.