The Grange West Residence, Dublin

 “[Sapphire’s] commitment to staying on site and reschedule their ferry home twice is much appreciated. The professional manner on how Sapphire approach their works is acknowledged and applauded.”

Gerry O’Brien, Site Manager, John Paul Construction

History

The Grange West Residence sits in Stillorgan, a few kilometres outside of Dublin’s city centre. The town has featured many new housing developments since the early 1930s, amenities and an old village centre, and exists now as a community-driven residential suburb in South Dublin. The Grange West Residence is a brand-new residential development that features 250 balconies manufactured and supplied by Sapphire Balconies.

Executive Summary

• Client Collaboration: Sapphire Balconies worked closely with John Paul Construction to meet design goals for picture-framed balconies.
• Innovative Non-Structural Columns: Sapphire designed non-structural columns to achieve the visual frame effect.
• Drainage Solution: Sapphire provided a certifier-approved drainage system using aluminium soffits to direct water forward through the decking.
• Bespoke Anchors: Custom M30 & M16 anchors with StubGuard® thermal breaks were designed to suit the pre-cast wide slab structure.

Streamlined by Innovation, Delivered by Sapphire

Client Collaboration

Sapphire worked closely with John Paul Construction and O’Mahoney Pike Architects to assist in realising their aspiration for ‘picture-framed’ balconies, without the need for structural support columns. Their dilemma was that support columns would require extra groundwork, extra time on-site, and a potential extra cost to manufacture.

Innovative Non-Structural Columns

With the task in hand to remove the need for structural columns whilst still ‘framing’ the balconies, Sapphire streamlined this project through ingenuity. We created non-structural ‘picture frame’ columns for the balconies, all of which were manufactured off-site. These aluminium ‘picture frames’ were carried by the balconies themselves, not putting any additional load back to the building.

The balconies were lifted into position as on a normal Glide-On™ job, with the non-structural columns pre-fitted to the outside of the balconies, framing them as requested, without taking any of the weight of the balconies, fully supported by the building without any strain on the structure.

Drainage Solution

Drainage and water management was an important consideration for Kennedy Wilson and O’Mahoney Pike Architects on this development. Architects O’Mahoney Pike required a ‘tried and tested’ system for controlled drainage that they knew would be approved by the assigned certifier.

Sapphire Balconies’ aluminium soffits are designed to facilitate a controlled drainage system, whereby water is able to drain through the balcony decking and drain forwards, away from the building. This system has been tried, tested and successfully implemented on many projects with assigned certifier GARLAND across Ireland to great effect.

Bespoke Anchors

The anchors on The Grange were an important consideration due to the pre-cast wide slab connection, which required a bespoke anchor design. Sapphire Balconies’ M30 & M16 anchor connections were used to satisfy the requirements of the project, using a set of stubs that could incorporate thermal breaks using Sapphire’s innovative StubGuard®.