West Way Place, Botley

 “Working with Sapphire has been a five-star experience, [they’ve] been very accommodating and helpful, sharing so much. Very smooth process.”

Site Engineer, Westway Place

History

Located just west of the Oxford city boundary, Botley is a thriving community on the Seacourt Stream, acting as a suburb of Oxford itself. Mace Group have created Westway Place as a new residential development on Oxford’s outskirts, allowing Botley to continue thriving, providing access to the city for upwards of 100 new residential units, on which Sapphire was pleased to supply the balconies.

Streamlined by Purpose, Delivered by Sapphire

A key aspiration for developer Mace Group and architects Mountford Pigott Partnership was to work closely with the local community of Botley to shape the plans for the community areas, to minimise disruption to existing community amenities and to minimise overall construction time.

These aspirations were, however, key constraints to the project as traditional concrete-poured or bolt-on balconies can be time-consuming and disruptive. Sapphire came aboard the project to assist and streamline by purpose, using our innovative technologies to minimise all disruption on-site.

Our Remote Locker Device (RLD) was a key component in keeping balcony production and installation fast, efficient and minimally disruptive. The RLD is fixed onto a prefabricated balcony over preinstalled arms within the balcony Cassette®, the stubs already cast into the building’s slab. The RLD then allows an installer to fix the arms to the stubs via a radio connection. Finally, after the balcony is secure, the remaining bolts can be safely fixed, and the Remote Locker can be removed.

This comes with cost benefits as well as time-saving benefits at two major junctions. Firstly, time spent is reduced at the arm installation stage, as only stubs will need to be cast onto the building’s slab. Secondly, labour costs are reduced as the arms are already fitted inside the balcony, so less time will be needed to fit a two-piece arm onto the stub bracket.