Faceted glass balcony balustrades, manufactured and installed by Sapphire, have been chosen to enhance the unique visual spectacle of Baltimore Tower, London’s latest landmark for luxury living.

Each apartment in the 46-storey building has its own private balcony which varies in size as the apartment levels rise, while the outer balcony ‘ring’ shifts and steps slightly to create the Tower’s distinctive flowing twist. The centre apartment core also ‘rotates’ at levels 8, 22 and 29 to correspond with the alignment of the balcony ring.

Balustrades for integrated balconies to apartments in Baltimore Tower are being manufactured by Sapphire using its Crystal frameless, structural glass system. The balustrades’ clean, continuous lines, with no vertical support posts, ensure clear views across Canary Wharf’s iconic skyline and the Greenwich Peninsula. Around 10,000 structural glass panels, 220 per floor, are being produced to form the faceted glass balustrade, which creates the desired elliptical shape without the time and cost associated with curved glass.

Etched glass panels supplied by Sapphire are providing privacy screens between individual apartment balconies. In addition, triple laminated obscured glass panels will be set into the balcony decks to produce the prestigious glass floors which form a creative feature that twists around the building.

Sapphire’s unique screening system is being used, rather than traditional scaffolding, to install balustrades starting at the lowest level and working up the building. The system saves contractors both the time and cost of erecting and dismantling scaffolding and also ensures the safety of installers without the need for harnesses through the use of a creeping shroud concept which moves up the outside of the tower.