BA Systems has provided its B40 frameless glass balustrade system for a John Lewis store as part of the Victoria Gate retail and leisure development. This Hammerson owned scheme, holds 42,000 square metres of retail and leisure space. The John Lewis store is a first for Leeds and will be the largest John Lewis store to date.

This high-profile store required an exceptional finish to complement this significant new John Lewis development. With this high benchmark, BA's design team were faced with a number of challenges when engineering their balustrade solution. BA Systems were appointed by Mace to provide their design-led solutions to this flagship John Lewis Leeds store.

The central escalator voids, were designed to provide scale to the store, meaning that BA's B40 balustrade system would enhance the natural light to all levels of the store. A specialist wooden handrail profile was chosen for the balustrade to complement the store design.

The B40 Balustrade system with an accompanying B10 Handrail was also chosen for the feature stair balustrade, 4th floor restaurant stair, and Eastgate entrance stair. The feature stair required significant coordination with the stair manufacturer on the tread detail. BA Systems proposed a 12mm steel fixing plate to clamp the glass to the tread. The stair contractor could then embed the fixing bolts into the timber tread ends to give a seamless appearance to the stair without compromising the structural integrity of the balustrade.