Kennet House
Client: Crest Nicholson
Contractor: Crest Nicholson
Architect: HGP Architects
Location: Reading, Berkshire
Balconies: 14
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DownloadChallenge
Kennet House was an office-to-residential refurbishment on the river Kennet in Reading. A major challenge for this project was the location, the building was surrounded by the river on two sides posing a logistical challenge.
In addition, because the project was a refurbishment of an office building anchors needed to be fixed to the existing slab, rather than cast-in. This posed the challenge of ensuring balcony rigidity while the slab strength was uncertain.
The programme by the time balcony install was required, posed a challenge as timescales were particularly tight as a result of delays elsewhere in the build. This meant all the balconies needed to be installed in one day to allow residents to move in the next day.
Solution
Post-fixed brackets were chosen to connect our innovative 1-piece arms to the existing slab. This meant our Glide-On™ Cassette® could be quickly and easily installed while keeping deflection to a minimum.
The efficient and fast install of balconies was particularly essential on this project as delays with other trades left only one day for install before residents moved in the following day. To meet this extremely tight deadline installers worked into the evening to ensure the apartments would be ready for occupation. This was possible thanks to the innovative design of our modular Glide-On™ Cassette® balconies and offsite manufacture.
The logistical complications of the river Kennet on two sides of the building was overcome by a carefully planned delivery schedule. In addition, all balconies arrived to site prefinished minimising on-site labour needed prior to install.
Installation Process
Step 1: Post-fixed brackets were fixed through the existing slab.
Step 2: Cassette® balconies were preassembled offsite, including balustrades, decking & soffits.
Step 3: Cassette® balconies were transported to site ready for installation upon arrival.
Step 4: Once lifted into position, the Cassettes® simply Glide-On™ to the pre-erected support arms, before completing the simple mechanical fixings.
