Reducing Embodied Carbon Through Prefabricated Balconies
As the construction industry faces growing pressure to address climate change, attention is turning beyond operational performance to the hidden emissions embedded in building materials and assembly. Known as embodied carbon, these emissions are released before a building ever opens its doors, through raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, and onsite construction. The Toronto Green Standard — which includes both minimum requirements that builders must meet as well as stricter goals that encourage better energy performance — embodied carbon remains largely unregulated, presenting both a challenge to developers and an opportunity for innovation.
Among the many components of a high-rise building, balconies are often overlooked in carbon calculations despite their significant material demands and structural implications. Conventional balcony systems (particularly those built with poured concrete) carry a high carbon cost due to cement production, reinforcing steel, and extended crane and labour use. Their cumulative impact adds up quickly across developments.
Sapphire Balconies, a UK-based company, approaches carbon reduction as a supply chain challenge rather than a product feature. Their prefabricated balcony systems are manufactured off-site in controlled environments powered entirely by renewable energy, significantly lowering emissions associated with production. By shifting key stages of balcony fabrication away from the construction site, Sapphire reduces the need for repeated deliveries, minimizes onsite work, and limits the use of diesel-powered equipment. Further investments, such as transitioning to an electric vehicle fleet and engaging supply chain partners through sustainability workshops, extend these carbon savings beyond the factory floor.
Sapphire’s Vision 2030 sets out a clear path toward eliminating indirect and direct emissions while advancing broader Environmental, Social, and Governance goals across the business. The company aims to lead the construction sector by proving that profitability and sustainability can be achieved in tandem through measurable, long-term action.
Their Cassette balconies, built from aluminum rather than steel or concrete, weigh roughly half as much as traditional systems, cutting down on transport emissions and reducing structural loads on the building. This, in turn, can allow for slimmer slab designs and fewer reinforcements, further lowering material usage. The lighter assemblies require fewer brackets and penetrations at the connection points, decreasing thermal bridging and improving the building envelope’s overall energy efficiency. Precision manufacturing also limits offcuts and excess material.
Each balcony is manufactured to specification using digital modelling tools, allowing components to arrive fully finished and ready for immediate installation, reducing reliance on cranes and cutting idle equipment time. Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) are available for all major components, including anchors, soffits, and balustrades, giving project teams the data needed to assess embodied carbon at a granular level.
Sapphire’s balconies are engineered for longevity and eventual disassembly, supporting a circular approach to construction. Components are connected using bolted rather than welded joints, allowing them to be removed at the end of a building’s life or during major retrofits. Materials like aluminum and wood-plastic composite decking are highly recyclable, with recovery rates exceeding 90%. This dismantling capability ensures that balconies can be returned to the material stream and not the landfill.
The company has achieved carbon neutrality under the PAS 2060 standard, offsetting unavoidable emissions through verified forest conservation projects in Zimbabwe and Colombia. These initiatives also protect biodiversity and support local communities through sustainable land management. Internally, Sapphire tracks emissions per revenue unit and publishes full lifecycle EPDs for its products, covering everything from material extraction to end-of-life scenarios. This level of disclosure supports developers seeking to meet climate targets with verifiable data rather than aspirational claims.
Sapphire was the first balcony manufacturer globally to adhere to the Science-Based Target initiative (SBTi), marking a milestone in the sector’s decarbonization efforts. This leadership position has been supported by a strong focus on data-driven carbon tracking, allowing the company to refine its balcony systems in ways that deliver measurable environmental performance. By quantifying carbon impacts across the entire product lifecycle, Sapphire continues to develop innovations that reduce emissions at every stage, from design through disassembly.
Around the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Sapphire’s low-carbon balconies have already been applied at Rainwater at 339 Veteran’s Drive in Barrie, a mid-rise development built using Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). The project required lightweight, thermally efficient balcony systems to complement the timber structure, making aluminum prefabrication a natural fit.
As the industry confronts the full environmental cost of construction, balconies are emerging as a critical detail in broader carbon reduction strategies. For developers in the Greater Golden Horseshoe aiming to meet evolving sustainability goals, balcony systems like these represent not just an architectural feature but a climate-conscious choice.
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