Bayside, Worthing

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 tower

At 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.