Media City ManchesterMedia City UK is home to over 200 businesses, including the BBC and ITV

Sitting on a 200 acre site on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, Media City UK is home to over 200 businesses, including the BBC, ITV and BUPA and is a ‘leading international hub for the creative and digital sectors - and a vibrant destination to work, live and play’.

As with virtually any major development, the requirement to provide outside space within multi-storey residential and commercial buildings means that cold-bridging features high on the list of considerations.

Media City UK incorporated numerous cantilivered steel balconies of different styles and shapes - all of which required connecting back to the concrete floor slabs, whilst minimising cold-bridging.

In close consultation with Jacobs the project engineers, and Heyrod the concrete contractors, J&P proposed use of the acclaimed BALCONTM product, and provided a range of design proposals which catered for every balcony design, including balconies with curved outer edges.

As the balconies were fixed back to the straight edges of the floor slab, the BALCON units were detailed by J&P to accommodate the varying loads of the curved balconies.

The BALCON system, which is thermally assessed by the BBA (British Board of Agrément) comprises three lengths of JORDAHL hot-rolled anchor channel; one being horizontal and plain-lipped to which are welded two lengths of ‘toothed’ channel set vertically, all with matching JORDAHL T-bolts. The channels have appropriate lengths of grade 500 reinforcement welded to the back and sides to provide full anchorage into the concrete floor slab.

Shear load (up to a maximum factored value of 75.6 kN) is taken by the vertical channels which incorporate the shear-resisting teeth.

Moment load (to a maximum factored value in excess of 60 kNm) is taken by tension in the top/horizontal channel and compression against the vertical channels.

Considerable fixing adjustability is inherent in every BALCON application.