Do I need building permission for a balcony balustrade?

In most Westlands blocks, yes. Height and infill are usually specified in the lease because the balcony is part of the building's external appearance and its safety. We get the design cleared before fabricating rather than after, which saves making something twice.

Our balustrade has gone wobbly. Is it the fixings?

Often it is the joints rather than the fixings. Imported kit balustrade is bolted together, and on an exposed upper balcony those joints work loose with thermal movement and driving rain. Welded and dressed joints do not, which is the main reason we fabricate rather than assemble.

Plumber in Westlands, Nairobi

We cover Westlands including Rhapta Road, Brookside, Riverside Drive, Chiromo, General Mathenge, Peponi, Mountain View, Woodvale Grove, Spring Valley. Off Waiyaki Way and Ring Road Parklands. Service lift dimensions decide section length; hot works need building permission.

What is different about plumbing in Westlands

Westlands apartment balconies need balustrade sections short enough for the service lift, so runs off Rhapta Road are jointed on site rather than delivered whole.
Blocks along Woodvale Grove specify balustrade height and infill in the lease, so a design has to clear building management before fabrication starts.
Upper-floor Westlands balconies take driving rain through the long rains, and bolted kit balustrade joints work loose there where welded ones do not.

Balustrades in Westlands apartments

Westlands is balcony work in occupied buildings, and three constraints shape all of it: the lift, the lease and the exposure.

Sections sized to the lift

We measure the service lift before fabricating. Anything longer than the car has to be jointed, and a joint made deliberately in the workshop with a proper sleeve is invisible. A joint improvised on the landing is not.

The lease usually specifies the balustrade

Height and infill are commonly written into the lease, because a balcony balustrade is both a safety element and part of the building’s external appearance. Building management does enforce it.

We clear the design first. Fabricating to a client’s preference and then being told to change it is an expensive way to learn the rule.

Welded, not bolted

A great deal of what is sold as stainless balustrade in Nairobi is imported kit, pre-made posts and fittings bolted together on site.

On an upper Westlands balcony taking driving rain and daily thermal movement, those bolted joints work loose. Welded, ground and polished joints do not, and the assembly reads as one piece rather than as components.

What we are usually called out for in Westlands

Stainless steel railings Stainless balustrades in the right grade, welded and finished properly rather than assembled from kit parts. Glass balustrades Toughened and laminated glass balustrades, fixed to spec rather than clamped and hoped. Window grills Grills made to each opening, with spacing that resists entry and at least one escape route per floor. Mild steel railings Mild steel railings, galvanised and powder coated rather than painted, for balconies, stairs and boundaries.

Landmarks we work around here: Sarit Centre, Westgate, Ring Road Parklands, Chiromo Lane. See what railings cost.