Glide-On Variation: Connecting to a Precast Façade

With the shortage of housing in The Netherlands, we felt that now was a great time to introduce ourselves. We’re Sapphire Balconies. We’ve spent the last 30 years building up our expertise in the balcony marketplace and can provide up to 20 rapidly installed, prefabricated balconies per day, using our wealth of industry knowledge and skill.

Whilst it might be the fastest way to install a balcony on the market, Sapphire’s Glide-On™ Cassette® solution isn’t the only way to install balconies for your project. Our new low-carbon Glide-On variation is easy to attach to a concrete wall, saves a great deal of carbon and saves money in the process.

Latest innovations in balcony installation

Using our intelligent new system, we can attach balconies to concrete walls using fewer, smarter connections. This not only reduces the load on the wall but allows us to reduce thermal bridging, putting our balconies at a lower risk of heat loss.

How is Sapphire staying sustainable?

The carbon benefits of our new system are enormous. By reducing the penetrations in the façade of a building, not only will less operational carbon be emitted after the building is in use, but less carbon will be emitted when first constructing the building. Saving on both embodied and operational carbon is a great benefit and will keep the balcony sustainable for long-term use.

Cost benefits of Sapphire balconies

Finally, by reducing the penetrations in the building’s façade and guaranteeing fewer carbon emissions, the overall cost of the building can be reduced. These savings include, but are not limited to:

• Reducing the cost of the wall by using a precast façade, which is lighter.
• A lighter wall allows a smaller crane to be used on-site, reducing initial building costs.
• A lighter wall also allows more internal floor space in each apartment. The client will therefore get a greater return on investment.
• Finally, our new system enables a simpler waterproofing and fireproofing detail. This allows savings in labour in other packages, such as a lack of need for external access.

Sapphire has recently worked on a project in the UK where these cost savings can be observed. The project in Wembley, London required 444 balconies and using our new low-carbon system, we were able to save £800,000 in construction costs.

Why choose Sapphire Balconies?

We can help to bring your balcony project to reality – by reaching out to us using the contact form below, we can assess whether your project is suitable for our new system. If so, we can work with you at an early design stage to see whether our new alternative solution to Glide-On™ can bring these significant savings to reality.

Our Glide-On variation is something we’re working hard on at Sapphire and will reveal more in the future. In the meantime, read more about the benefits of our new low-carbon system, or download one of our whitepapers on innovation to learn more.Tailor the balcony to your exact project requirements. Options include drainage, balustrades to soffits and many more.