BA Systems were contracted to design, supply and install the glass balustrades for the balconies and terraces, glass privacy screens and balcony decking systems of Halo Apartments in Manchester.

The development was designed by DLA Design and main contracted by Bardsley Construction. The external glass balustrade package presented a number of initial design challenges:

- A full glass balustrade, trim and decking solution needed to be designed and coordinated for the steel balcony frames.
- The glass balustrade line needed to be cantilevered away from the edge of the Metsec deck by about 110mm.
- Because the building had a Metsec frame, a bespoke fixing bracket detail would be required for the privacy screens.

The B40 Frameless balustrade with 21.5mm toughened and laminated glass was used for the balconies and terraces. This was complemented with a B20 Privacy Screen with opaque glass infills.

A side fix balustrade detail was designed which incorporated the ICE 3 channel profile and associated polyester powder coated aluminium trim profiles. This was designed to integrate with the pre-fabricated decking frame and composite decking system.

To offset mount the glass balustrade from the Metsec slab, a bespoke galvanised steel base bracket was designed. This was installed at 500mm centres. The bracket and balustrade fixing detail was designed to meet a 0.74kN/m balcony loading.

The privacy screen base fixing detail was designed to enable it to be fixed above and below the slab. This steel bracket and internal spigot gave the screen the rigidity it needed, despite the shallower fixing depth for the screw-bolts.