Leviat

Leviat’s Halfen HIT balcony connectors provide a high strength insulated connection for the unique wavy cantilevered balconies that wrap-round Worthing’s new landmark 15 storey towerAt 52 metres, the 15-storey Bayside Vista dominates the Worthing seafront, providing an ambitious centrepiece to spearhead the local council’s regeneration agenda.Designed by architects, Allies and Morrison, for Client and Main Contractor, Roffey Homes, the tower is by far the tallest building in Worthing. It provides an eye-catching marker building for the small Bayside development of 141 homes, a restaurant, and commercial units, which fronts the sea at the eastern reach of the town’s historic promenade.Taking inspiration from the metal verandas and intricate filigree work of the town’s Regency terraces, the architects have decorated the otherwise plain glazed facades with deep undulating balconies that completely encircle the building at every storey, creating a unique skin effect that elevates the design to another level. Recognised for its distinctive architecture, Bayside has become a powerful landmark having won prestigious awards including the RIBA South East Award 2023 and Building Beauty Award 2023. Unique cantilevered balconies required impressive load capacities and fire safety.The unique balcony structures are created using a continuous band of 225mm thick reinforced concrete that cantilevers out from the edge of the concrete floor slabs at every level. To create the undulating effect, the balcony slab varies in projection between 2.5m and 3m.Offset at each level, the slabs are precambered to increase load carrying capacity and edged with a balustrade of closely coupled white uprights, creating a rippling stack effect to mimic the random effect of waves breaking on a sandy beach.To maximise the visual effect, the client was keen to achieve the largest possible cantilever, whilst minimising deflection and movement due to the weight of the heavy concrete balcony structure. Adding to this, was the need to find a support solution that would deliver excellent fire safety as well as minimising thermal bridging between the structural floor slab and external balcony structure, in line with the client’s ‘fabric first’ approach to minimising energy use.Leviat's history of success made Halfen HIT the ideal solution.The decision was taken to use Leviat’s Halfen HIT range for the high-profile project due to the brand’s reputation and history of previous successful use on similar applications across Europe.Leviat produced a solution using its Halfen HIT-SP MVX connector, a special thermal connector specifically designed for high loadbearing applications in a cantilevered balcony slab. The high strength connectors, which were cast into the concrete slab edge during pouring, are specifically designed to transfer bending moments and high positive or negative shear forces, so were particularly applicable for the support of the very heavy continuous balcony structure.  The most thermally efficient balcony connector in the Halfen range, the HIT-SP MVX connector includes a special cassette section which places a 120mm thickness of non-combustible mineral wool across the joint to prevent thermal bridging and carries a 2-hour REI 120 fire rating for improved fire safety and performance.Façade Engineers, Cladding Consultancy Services, fitted a total of 2,500m of the CE marked Halfen HIT connector, which was manufactured in 1000mm lengths for ease of handling. All materials were supplied direct to the seafront site from Leviat’s facility in Houghton Regis. All images are ©Tim Crocker 2024.

This mixed use development on the southern fringes of the Olympic Park utilised the Nexus® system to achieve flawless brick-faced soffits to the hundreds of door and window heads. Nexus is a two-part brick soffit system that combine a high integrity stainless steel brickwork support system with custom-designed prefabricated brick faced soffit units. Being 70% lighter than traditional cast concrete solutions, the Nexus soffit system is simply lifted and bolted into position by hand and, as the brick slip facing is manufactured from the same batch as the main brickwork, presents a perfect colour and texture match for flawless transitions.

Cosmos is a new 864-unit student accommodation complex located at Fitzwilliam Street, Sheffield inclose proximity to the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University. Cosmos will offer residency to students of both facilities, providing a range of rooms from studio apartments to shared en-suite apartments. The development consists of four tower blocks, ranging in scale from six-to-17 storeysLeviat’s Ancon MDC Masonry Support System played an essential part in the construction of a £46.5m student accommodation project in the heart of Sheffield, enabling a fast, efficient and structurally sound development.

Leviat designed and manufactured the stainless steel support and restraint system for the brick façade on this attractive Town Centre development, voted Best Public Building in the 2014 Brick Awards.This award-winning project, designed by MICA Architects (formerly Rick Mather Architects), is located in a conservation area, home to some of the finest examples of Edwardian Grade II* brick and terracotta buildings in Newham, making brick the natural cladding choice.Brick features, including soffits, reveals and ribs, help give the building its unique character with each element being tied back to the main structural frame by special fixings from Leviat, designed to suit the specific load and cavity conditions at each location.

Ancon STC Steel-to-Concrete Insulated Balcony Connectors have been chosen to securely connect over 1000 bolt-on steel balconies at London’s ground-breaking Embassy Gardens Phase 2 development.Sitting alongside the new American Embassy on London’s South Bank, Embassy Gardens is the centrepiece of one of the Capital’s biggest ever regeneration projects. Phase 2 of the project is delivering a total of almost 900 luxury apartments across three stunning 21-storey glazed towers, traditionally brick-faced to reflect the area’s industrial heritage.Characterised by large modern balconies with views over the surrounding linear gardens and river beyond, the towers are linked together by a raised podium garden and feature a world-first transparent outdoor pool, 35 metres up, allowing residents to swim between the tenth floors of two towers.

Leviat has supplied its Ancon Masonry Support Systems, Cast-in Channels and Windposts as part of a new major residential development in East London. The products have been essential to the construction of the buildings, improving buildability on this time-sensitive residential project.Working alongside main contractor Lee Marley Brickwork, Leviat supplied its Ancon Masonry Support Systems, Cast-in Channels and Windposts to be used on the residential buildings. Leviat’s products were specified by the project’s engineers at OCSC Consulting Engineers, due to the versatility of the products.

The fourth and final phase of a major regeneration project in central Manchester’s Piccadilly Basin, Islington Wharf Phase 4 is an iconic residential development comprising two visually striking 11 and 16 storey buildings. Delivered by Waterside Places for developer, Latimer, they provide 106 contemporary one- and two-bedroom apartments, of which 54 are available on a shared ownership basis, providing much needed affordable homes in the heart of the city’s vibrant waterfront area.Leviat’s expertise in providing solutions for similar buildings in the past, coupled with their previous working relationships with the project engineers and architects, and with brickwork contractor Cara Brickwork, meant they were chosen by stockist, SIG, to provide a complete package of support solutions to meet the special requirements of the project.Lengths of Leviat’s Ancon MDC masonry support system were then fabricated to suit the specific requirements, loadings and PT pocket implications of each individual location and supplied to SIG for just-in-time site delivery against the contractor’s predetermined build programme.The design of the MDC units offered a 20mm fixing tolerance, enabling contractors on site to accommodate most of the variances in PT pocket locations and unexpected rebar density. Leviat’s technical and sales specialists provided support throughout the project, however, and where problems were encountered, were able to supply replacement MDC sections quickly, to enable the project to progress without delays.

The Lakhta Center is a large mixed-use non-residential development featuring the first supertall skyscraper in St. Petersburg. The 87 floor, 462 metre superstructure consists of a cylindrical reinforced concrete core. Due to exceptional reinforcement volumes, Ancon reinforcing bar couplers and headed anchors were used extensively in the construction of the foundation raft to avoid unnecessary overlapping of bars and minimise congestion. Nearly 80,000 CXL32 couplers were used for the splicing of 32mm horizontal reinforcing bars, and over 45,000 CXL32HA and 6,000 MBT ETHA32 headed anchors were used at the extremities of the reinforcement at the edges of the raft.

Over 100,000 Ancon Rebar Couplers were used to support the concrete of one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world. Reinforcing bars which strengthen the concrete deck, towers and end piers had to be reliably, mechanically connected end to end throughout the structure. To perform this hidden, but vital structural task, Bartec Plus Parallel Threaded Couplers were selected from the comprehensive Ancon range. Various types and sizes, to match rebar diameters from 12-40mm, were supplied, with the three largest sizes being used to join reinforcement running the full height of the three 680ft support towers.

Ancon designed and manufactured the complex stainless steel brick support and restraint system behind the complicated façade of the award-winning LSE Saw Swee Hock Student Centre. The attractive masonry façade uses 175,000 handmade bricks to form both solid and perforated areas. The Ancon stainless steel system comprises special inclined MDC type brick support angles fixed back to 30/20 cast-in channels and bespoke rolled hollow section Windposts, featuring surface-fixed channels to accept wall ties, positioned at mullion locations strategically hidden within the perforated brickwork.

The architectural inspiration was exemplified in the bespoke design, characterised by a glazed white brick façade and an intricate arrangement of convex and concave curves. Collaborating closely with Jenner and the balcony manufacturer, Leviat's technical engineers played a pivotal role in delivering support systems that seamlessly integrated into the building's curved design while maintaining an unobtrusive presence. The specification of top-quality materials remained of paramount importance throughout the process.Given the intricate nature of this project where standardardised solutions were never going to be an option, early engagement with Leviat was essential. Leviat’s technical engineers, from both the masonry and structural connections teams, worked closely together to deliver engineering solutions that were compatible for both the design and use of Ancon Masonry Support and Ancon Balcony Connectors within the project scheme. These solutions were used across each of the elevations and as part of the brick façades and balconies.

Leviat’s Ancon MDC Masonry Support and Ancon CombiDeck, along with Ibstock Kevington’s Nexus® Brick-Faced Units have played key roles in constructing a major student accommodation complex in the heart of Lincoln, offering overall efficiency and ease of construction.The complex is spread across ten blocks, ranging from 4 to 10 storeys in height, which have been sub-divided to reduce scale and facilitate a progressive change in character across the development. The first phase included 1,222 bedrooms in apartments, comprising six to 12 en-suite bedrooms. Students will also benefit from associated internal and external amenity space.

Part of a masterplan by Brent London Borough Council to redevelop the heart of Stonebridge, and provide much needed new homes for residents, the project provides a total of 73 modern, purpose built affordable residential units across two adjacent sites, linked by a new public open space with playground and outdoor gym.Constructed on a former car park, the development comprises two distinct sections. The larger, Hillside site, is constructed across two blocks, up to 7 storeys in height and linked at first floor level by a landscaped podium and under-croft car park. It comprises a mix of 51 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, each with dual aspect and private balcony. Complementing this, the smaller Milton Avenue site, constructed over three storeys, features a total of 22 4-bedroom townhouses.

The latest architectural wonder to rise from the banks of the Thames is Switch House, the highly anticipated extension to Tate Modern, which opened in June 2016. Ancon’s contribution to this landmark project was the fabrication of 12,000 special stainless steel corbels and over 600,000 stainless steel pins which now support and restrain the stunning brick façade, helping to turn this unusual design concept into a reality. With construction now complete, Ancon’s critical structural components are completely hidden from view, leaving onlookers to simply marvel at the overall effect and the ingenuity at work.

Ancon TeploTie, the innovative low thermal conductivity Wall Tie, has been used in the UK’s first retrofit to achieve zero-carbon Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. TeploTie wall ties are ideal for retrofit projects as they can be resin-fixed into existing walls. The project involved the refurbishment of a semi-detached home, built in the 1840s with solid brick walls. The front elevation is internally insulated to preserve the original brickwork. The U-value of the walls is now 0.11W/mK2, 16 times better than before.

Located in Brixton, The Department Store Studios is a five-storey contemporary office building, offering flexible co-working space alongside generous amenities including a bike storage, showers, lockers, a screening room and a bar and restaurant. The workspace has been designed and built by renowned architecture firm Squire and Partners, to be used as an addition to its own London office, in a new build property framed by cross-laminated timber. Early involvement with brickwork contractor, Lyons & Annoot, allowed for a seamless, homogenous brick build on this project. Working alongside main contractor Lyons and Annoot, from tender stage to completion, Leviat designed and manufactured a bespoke masonry restraint system which was used in the internal blockwork walls, as well as Ancon Wall Ties, Head Restraints and AMR Masonry Reinforcement in the façade.

Located on a former industrial site bordering Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter Conservation Area, this unique mixed-use development delivers 390 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, commercial offices, retail outlets and a new railway ticket office, in addition to much needed new facilities for the city’s world-famous jewellery sector. Sandwiched between busy railway lines and a public highway, and bounded by two historic cemeteries, the seven-building development varies in height between 3 and 7-storeys. It has been sympathetically designed to reference the area’s industrial heritage, with imposing brick facades, deep-set windows and distinctive archway detailing recreating the aesthetic of the historic warehouses that once defined the site.

Strategically located in the heart of the University’s Social Sciences campus, this award-winning 17,000m² building brings together five of the faculty’s departments under a single roof, and provides a range of world-class teaching, research, scientific and social facilities for use by students and staff across the faculty, as well as the local community.Referred to as ‘The Wave’ for its flowing lines, rhythmic design and striking glazed façade, it is the University’s first net-zero in operation building. Designed by Sheffield-based HLM Architects, the unique building achieved the coveted BREEAM Outstanding Design Stage certificate - further supporting the University’s mission towards sustainability in both architecture and operation.