Back to Case studiesPublished Date:06/10/26
| Client: | Notting Hill Genesis |
| Contractor: | Hill Group |
| Architect: | HTA Design and Hawkins\Brown |
| Location: | Walworth, London |
| Balconies: | 153 |
The Remote Locker Device (RLD) allows balcony-to-arm locking from inside the apartment. No scaffold needed
Perhaps the most vital regeneration project in London today, the 70-acre Aylesbury Estate – once the largest system-built council estate in Europe – is at the start of a three-decades-long comprehensive redevelopment that will provide 3,500 modern homes in one of the city’s most maligned areas.
While its architecture may have been dated, the Aylesbury Estate was always a thriving community – home to thousands of families who take pride in their environment. Capturing that community spirit and paying homage to the previous incarnation of the estate was of utmost importance to Southwark Council. As partners, Notting Hill Genesis sought novel ways to build a narrative bridge between the former estate and its modern iteration through architectural design. At First Development Site C, Sapphire had the chance to support this incredible aspiration.
Early into the project, young people from the Aylesbury Estate were invited to participate in an art workshop to design a mandala (a geometric pattern designed in a circular arrangement, sacred to meditation in Hinduism, Buddhism and other religions) incorporating their cherished memories from the estate. The young people represented symbols from the old estate, including the iconic staircases and window designs combined with local flora from nearby Burgess Park, to create a striking symbol representing memory, regeneration and opportunity.
This mandala was later incorporated into the design for Sapphire’s balconies for First Development Site C. Having converted the mandala into a rational pattern, we utilised advanced laser cutting techniques to inscribe this design into the soffits of 153 balconies.
Another pattern representing the shape of the Aylesbury Estate’s former windows was converted into a dot matrix pattern for use across solid balustrades, further codifying the architectural connection between old and new.
The balconies themselves were delivered in a range of styles, with colour playing a key role. What was previously an all-grey estate of flat concrete walls is now a cornucopia of patterns and colours. Sapphire’s balconies play a key part in creating this sense of ebullience, animating the buildings with playful patterns, quirky colours and points of visual interest that entertain both the residents and people viewing from street level.
While it is often maligned for its dated brutalist architecture, residents of the Aylesbury Estate are nonetheless proud of their home, with many considering their striking concrete tower blocks an iconic establishment. Notting Hill Genesis sought to pay respect to this sense of local pride via a narrative bridge between the old and new architecture for the area, by incorporating visual motifs from the old estate into the design of the new buildings.
To that end, they invited residents to attend a workshop with a local artist in which they played with iconography from the Aylesbury Estate. Among the stand-out elements, the iconic window patterns and winding staircases of the former estate stood out as sources of endless fascination, as did the ash trees and wildflowers symbolic of nearby Burgess Park. Combining these elements, the residents created a circular mandala design, emphasising the peace and harmony of the area while also reflecting the circular nature of regeneration.
At Sapphire, we had the idea to bring this design to life through our balconies. After receiving the mandala, we worked to simplify the initial design, transforming it into a stencil that could be laser cut into aluminium panels. This was easier said than done, requiring many iterations to achieve an achievable pattern that could be manufactured at scale, with supplementary work to ensure there would be no impact to the drainage system inside the balcony Cassette®. After reverse engineering a repeatable solution, we settled on a design that would later become consistent across all 153 balconies.
“Our balconies are systems, so the design needs to work with the system. We need to make sure it’s buildable, that it can go through the manufacturing process, and we need to understand the constraints. Thankfully our Contract Managers are very skilled at going through the details of the design, understanding the elements and how we can take it into design.”
—Angus Robertson, Contracts Manager Team Leader at Sapphire
Elsewhere, we put our laser cutting skills to use in creating a number of interesting balustrade designs. Further cementing the legacy of the Aylesbury Estate’s iconic architecture, we created a simple dot matrix design based on the corridor-patterned windows, which were transformed into solid aluminium balustrades for use across corner balconies. Facing onto Burgess Park, these balconies serve to immortalise a geometric pattern forever etched into the memories of Walworth residents.
“I felt proud of myself for making a contribution to the building. I thought it looked quite futuristic.”
—Aylesbury Estate resident
With such ambitious plans for the balconies and façade details, Sapphire noticed a risk of budget overrun early into the programme. To protect the integrity of the design aspirations and to streamline project delivery, we supported the client through a period of rationalisation.
This started with a review of the balcony types against Housing Design Supplementary Planning Guidance requirements, in which we identified several opportunities for optimisation. The first step was to reduce the size of balconies, both to ensure oversized balconies would be removed from the scheme and to guarantee consistency. This, in turn, helped to reduce the number of overall balcony types by 50%, down from 14 types to just seven.
The second step was to simplify design details. For instance, the client’s original design intent involved challenging interface details requiring bespoke engineering solutions. Through rationalisation, we helped to ensure balustrades would finish flush against brick walls, retaining the aesthetic appeal without driving up costs.
“It is very heartwarming to see such a genuine example of collaboration with the local community on this regeneration project. Sapphire was delighted to facilitate these conversations with Notting Hill Genesis and Hill Group. This demonstrates the true essence of the partnerships model.”
—Selwyn McIntyre, Sales Director at Sapphire
Balcony soffits are not just for decoration. They play an essential role in the integrity of Sapphire’s built-in drainage system. Sapphire balconies always try to prioritise leading edge drainage (or downpipe drainage where this is not possible), which is achieved through drainage channels built into the balcony Cassette®. The challenge with laser-cut soffit panelling was that these drainage channels would be left exposed, potentially undermining the visual appeal of the balcony.
A secondary problem was one of logistics. Balconies must be durable enough, not only to survive the journey from the factory to the site, but also to maintain a minimum lifespan of several decades. Intricate patterns cut into a key structural component of the balconies created a risk for fracture points. The design of the soffits therefore needed to mitigate the risk of structural defects, ensuring our balconies could continue to look and perform at the optimal level for many years to come.
Taking these problems back to the design team, Sapphire found an achievable, scalable and cost-effective solution that could be achieved under factory conditions. This solution not only solved the immediate problems but ended up contributing to an even more appealing visual aesthetic for the balcony soffits, further emphasising the incredible design of the mandala motifs.
“With controlled drainage, water drains through the soffit towards the front edge of the balcony, cascading away via a 30mm drip. It’s critical to maintain that across the balcony. The way we achieved it in this case was with the introduction of a secondary soffit element, separated by a 2mm gap. With this, we were no longer constrained by the limitations on fold radius and fold flange lengths, or on thicknesses of the material, which meant we could keep that whole soffit zone behind the fascia without increasing the depth of the balcony. Better yet, the shadow gaps create different aspects, giving the design a third dimension. Now, whichever angle you look at the soffits from, you’ll always get to see something different.”
—Angus Robertson, Contracts Manager Team Leader at Sapphire
