The main challenge for Sapphire when installing 139 Glide-On™ balconies at the Beaumont Court & Richmond House project centred around the fact that it was an existing building being renovated, meaning anchors couldn't be cast into the slab.

The Sapphire team had to find a way to secure the 139 specified balconies to the building and achieve a high level of rigidity while not knowing the exact strength of the existing floor substrate of a long-term derelict building.

To overcome the challenges posed by the existing slab, Sapphire worked with the site and engineers to design a unique anchor and tie wire system to suit the needs of the project.

Considering the existing structure along with the the size and weight of the balconies, a bottom bracket was fixed to hold the balconies with tie wires for the below balconies restraining from the same brackets.

Tie wires securely cantilever the balcony off the building while giving a unique aesthetic finish. This meant the balconies were safely secured to the building slab for taking momentum forces like a traditional bolt-on/Glide-On™ approach.

Step 1 - Unique two-part brackets were secured to the concrete frame.

Step 2 – Cassette® balconies were preassembled offsite, including the balustrades, decking & soffits.

Step 3 – Use of counterbalance lifters was important to install balconies below feature 'boxes' higher up the building.

Step 4 - Once lifted into position, the balconies fixed onto the awaiting bottom brackets and were secured above with the tie wires.