Park Royal, Acton Lane Case Study

Designed by the ATP group, Park Royal is a venture by Network Homes. Hollybrook procured the site located within the Park Royal Town Centre Masterplan, which reforms the area in the centre of the Park Royal adjacent to the Central Middlesex Hospital. It was the first residential scheme within the new Town Centre Masterplan.

Sapphire was commissioned to design and manufacture install balconies for this project. The design included a splayed vertical bar used in the railings of the balconies to give every apartment a unique feel. Despite the complex design, Sapphire’s innovative team created and delivered the exclusive vertical bars for the balcony railings. Furthermore, our team of experts designed, manufactured, and successfully installed over 80 balconies, including one over 20M+ long and consisting of seven cassettes joined together.

One significant aspect of this project is that our accredited installers, Steelbuild, did an admirable job matching the Sapphire balcony balustrade with the other concrete terrace railings and external balustrading of the building. With an exceptional design and matching detailing, the Park Royal development is fittingly outstanding.

One of the biggest concerns for Architects with the specification was to ensure that our Sapphire balcony balustrades were matched with the metalwork in the building. Most architects and designers want to make sure the architecture flows seamlessly across the different packages. In the case of this project, the balcony balustrade designs are consistent with the terraces and concrete balconies.

Our close working relations with our accredited installers, SteelBuild, have made the Park Royal project a stunning example of how we have matched our Sapphire balcony balustrades with the other concrete terrace railings and external balustrading of the building.

Challenge

The Park Royal project’s central location meant definite space. Its location adjacent to the Central Middlesex Hospital made the installation process tricky. Lorries delivering Sapphire balconies had to stop on the bus lane, meaning no delay in the deliveries of the balconies was a critical need.

With an inadequate lay-down area, off-site manufactured modular balconies were essential.

Another challenge was installing a 20M+ long balcony where seven cassettes were joined to lay between two brick columns. In addition to this, the installation process was delicate as the cranes couldn’t slide the balcony smoothly with the tight spacing of the underside.

As a further complexity, the balcony above the main entrance had an additional rainwater downpipe in the building required for the prospect’s proper drainage strategy.

Solution

Sapphire balconies arrived on-site with balustrading, soffits, and decks prefinished, which enabled faster installation of the balconies, ensuring that the lorries didn’t sit long on the bus lane. Our balconies were pre-slung and ready for installation upon arrival without creating a need for storage space.

To fit the balcony cassettes between the two brick columns, the design team at Sapphire worked long hours to understand how the connections would work best, collaborated with experts at SteelBuild, and trial fitted the balconies in the offsite storage area to ensure a seamless balcony installation process on-site. Additionally, we undertook site-specific regress testing to ensure that our demanding rigidity standards were not compromised even when it was 20M+ long.

Counterbalance lifts were used to install the balconies in the tight spaces.

Specially notched soffits were fitted for most of the balconies, so the run of vertical downpipes was not disrupted. Decking cover plates were installed to positively drain the balconies and reduce the risk of water dripping over the entrances.

Installation Process

Step 1: Cast in anchors were cast into the slab & incorporated thermal break connections offering superior rigidity to the balconies.

Step 2: Cassette® balconies were preassembled offsite, including the balustrades, decking & soffits.

Step 3: Cassette® balconies were transported with balconies ‘nested’ inside each other, making transport cost-effective, lower footprint & safe. Balconies were pre-slung offsite and 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.