Why Would a Prefabricated Balcony Benefit My Development?

For years, balcony construction has been a last-minute addition to an otherwise well-considered building. Adding on concrete slabs takes significant time, can be cumbersome in terms of waterproofing and drainage, and can be costly.

Prefabricated balconies change all of this.

By using a prefabricated solution, you could save time and cost, all the while making your development lighter, faster, safer, kinder and with more possibilities than ever.

In this article, we’ll be talking through modular construction and prefabrication, how to integrate cross-laminated timber with your development and some design considerations when using a prefabricated balcony solution.

Why Should I Use Prefabrication or Modular Construction?

Prefabrication and modular construction are innovative approaches that could benefit your development.

Reducing your time on site by not needing to manufacture balconies in-situ can be a time and cost-effective way to manage balconies on your development. Delivering fully assembled units means not only a decrease in cost, but also a reduction in risk.

Pre-finishing as much as possible in the factory reduces the requirement for secure storage on site – a further benefit particularly ideal for projects in city centres like Toronto, Vancouver or New York where site space can often be extremely limited.

On-site health and safety issues, such as the risk of errors and potentially costly project delays due to bad weather, can be reduced with a prefabricated solution.

Finally, this increase in quality stretches out to quality assurance too – prefabricating balconies in factory conditions ensures a high degree of quality control which is almost impossible to achieve on site.

Integration of CLT in Construction

Cross-laminated timber (CLT), or Mass Timber, is created by glueing together layers of solid-sawn lumber from a single log. By glueing together layers of wood at the right angles, CLT can achieve better structural rigidity than regular timber in both vertical and horizontal directions.

The benefits of CLT are numerous. CLT offers a prefabricated material that is incredibly flexible for building design – including CLT in a building’s design from an early stage is beneficial as it can result in shorter installation times therefore reducing the cost of labour on-site if planned well. Furthermore, the fire performance of CLT is very good, as it is fire-rated and compliant for ongoing use. Whilst concrete is the conventional option due to the perceived rigidity of the product, some companies suggest that CLT can be favourable over concrete as it is 20-30% faster to install, so can reduce labour on-site.

Design Considerations for Prefabricated Balconies

Prefabrication may well be the streamlined and simplified method of balcony production, but considerations still need to be taken when using a prefabricated balcony product.

Firstly, balconies need to be designed to ensure compatibility with modular construction processes. Implementing a modular design further allows balcony components to be fabricated off-site in controlled environments, enhancing quality control and streamlining assembly processes on-site.

Ensuring your balcony design integrates seamlessly with other building systems such as façade elements and structural supports, can enhance overall project coordination and efficiency.

Compliance with step codes in Canada must also be considered. Having a prefabricated balcony can lead to sustainability benefits, but making sure that balcony designs comply with relevant building codes and regulations, including requirements for structural integrity, fire safety, and accessibility, are crucial for ensuring code compliance.

 

Prefabrication is reinventing modern balcony construction – as time goes on, we’re seeing signs that the modular approach to balcony manufacturing could be on its way to becoming the norm.

Whilst there are design considerations that need to be taken in order to make prefabricated balconies work on your development, the benefits are enormous. Building with CLT / Mass Timber can mean faster construction times and with a CLT connection bracket, installing a balcony is as simple as gliding it straight on.

Finally, with the various benefits of a prefabricated approach such as faster installation times, reduced working hours on site and quality assurance, your development can benefit from not only a streamlined approach, but a lighter, safer, kinder one too, with more possibilities than ever before.

To learn more about how a prefabricated solution could benefit your project, visit our Next Generation suite page: