Balconies make apartment buildings more visually interesting and give residents some ‘outdoor’ space, enhancing marketability. New materials and systems for offsite manufactured buildings bring fresh balcony challenges – sparking Sapphire’s ingenious modular solutions.
Modern methods of construction (MMC) is a smart way to meet the high demand for new homes in London and other major towns and cities. Scarcity of land drives the move to high-rise homes, across the spectrum from highend luxury down to social housing. By adopting MMC framing and infill solutions, architects, developers and contractors are able to deliver homes of appropriately high standards more quickly and at market-related prices.
A key challenge with many MMC building solutions is ensuring that balconies are rigid. The most important structural element is the unseen balcony connection back to the building. If it’s not right, a balcony could feel ‘bouncy’, corrode more quickly, have poor thermal performance – or even be a safety risk. Where there’s a reinforced concrete frame, there’s no problem because balcony brackets can be securely cast-in or post-fixed. But with timber or steel MMC framing systems, it is necessary to use alternative connections that tie back further into the building.
Sapphire Balconies, a leading manufacturer of balcony systems for residential applications, has added its muscle to the modular revolution by giving architects wide scope in balcony design – combined with the reliability of modular construction. Sapphire has developed a lightweight cantilevered solution that makes a balcony as much at home on virtually any offsite construction method as it is on a traditional thick reinforced concrete structure.
This gives architects the confidence to design balconies that balance all requirements – visual, practical and financial. This is true for a wide range of offsite materials and practices, such as cross laminated timber fames, steel frames, thin concrete slabs and precast wall panels.
Key to Sapphire’s Glide-On™ Cassette® system is its lightweight, modular construction, which reduces forces on the anchors and connections that transfer the load of the balcony to the structure of the building. This is particularly important, where structural elements are less rigid than reinforced concrete.
Several connection alternatives are available, and all are designed to outperform L/180 structural requirements, include thermal breaks and can be used with or without stub brackets. Frames of Sapphire’s GlideOn™ Cassette® – which is attached to the support arms – are made of laser cut and mechanically fixed aluminium, making the balcony one third the weight of a comparable all-steel design. The smaller load may reduce the number of supports required, the number of façade penetrations and the risk of cold bridging or damp problems.
Unlike traditional balconies, Glide-On™ Cassette® balconies are fixed to their anchors from above so soffits can be factory installed, reducing the finishing works and overall costs. These balconies allow a choice of materials for soffits, decking and balustrades, although Sapphire recommends Class A aluminium soffits and decking to minimise any risk of fire spreading. Balconies are fully assembled to architects’ specification at Sapphire’s factory and transported to site. Each is delivered pre-assembled and factory finished to a high quality standard, so there is minimal need for on-site finishing.
