Manchester Victoria - Residential Balconies

Developed as a great space to live in one of Manchester's best-connected locations, close to the city's shops, restaurants & bars, and next to Manchester Victoria train station, the project comprised two 20 and 25-storey residential towers, which delivered 520 new homes.

The architect Sheppard Robson, main contractor VINCI Construction, and installer Deckbuilders, all came together to deliver a great project, that is part of a gateway into the city, featuring fantastic-looking balconies, which we were very happy to secure against the forces of nature: namely wind-uplift.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to mitigating the effects of negative pressure on balconies and terraces in high-rise buildings, and in this particular case, we had to fix the paving down to the main structure of the building mechanically, to de-risk against the impact of up to -2.68kPa of suction on the roof.

To account for cost and time constraints, the system we used to secure the balconies against wind-uplift was the TerraSmart™ Pedestal system with the addition of a visual wind-uplift mechanical fixing.

The tiles were mechanically restrained to the pedestals which, in turn, were mechanically fixed to the concrete deck of the balconies.

And the outcome? Balconies secured, the project de-risked against wind-uplift, and the beautiful Quadro Argento Tiles (600x1200x20mm) safely in place for all residents to experience and enjoy. Listen to what our specification manager had to say.

If you are specifying a project and want to know how you can mitigate the effects wind-uplift or the impact that occurs as a result of urban canyons, we can help.