Alperton Bus Depot, London

Overview

Led by Telford Homes and designed by TP Bennett, the Alperton Bus Depot development delivers modern housing integrated with community and light industrial space. The scheme’s three residential buildings employ a unitised panel façade system with brick-slip and aluminium cladding to accelerate construction while maintaining consistent quality. Sapphire provided bespoke balcony systems to integrate seamlessly with the panelised façade approach.

Aspirations: Fast, Efficient Delivery via Panelised Construction

To meet ambitious delivery targets, the project relied on off-site unitised construction. Balconies needed to install quickly and cleanly in parallel with panel installation while maintaining full weather integrity and architectural precision. Sapphire engineered balconies that aligned directly with the façade system, ensuring minimal disruption and perfect threshold detailing.

 

 

Constraints: Sequencing and Access Coordination

The challenge lay in coordinating balcony installation with the façade’s panelised system and mast climber access. Conventional balcony arms would have restricted façade progress. Sapphire overcame this by embedding cast-in brackets within the RC frame ahead of panel delivery and developing a Remote Locking Device (RLD) system that allowed balcony arms to be housed within the cassettes, maintaining unrestricted site access.

 

 

How Sapphire Streamlined the Project

Sapphire’s Glide-On™ Cassette® balconies were designed to work in tandem with the unitised panels. Cast-in brackets and infill plates preserved weather resilience while panels were sealed, enabling balcony installation to proceed without delays. Each unit featured vertical bar balustrades, front-edge drainage, grey powder-coated soffits, and aluminium decking for consistency. The system allowed installation to continue smoothly after mast climbers were removed, achieving a clean façade interface and fast-track delivery.