The garden room at Ballyfin is a beautiful 170-year-old cast-iron structure that was too bright and hot with no standard shading options available. The Grants Design Team was asked to create a solution that was fully retractable so that the beautiful transparency of the design could still be enjoyed when blinds were open. Several options were designed and visualised to the client with the corresponding costings noted. During the design process, Grants prototyped the solution and worked with the designer for finish, weave and facia design to conceal the blind stack when opened.

Once the concept design had been settled, Grants needed to work through the technical aspects of how everything would work. Whilst the room looked beautiful, over time the building had become out of true, careful considerations had to be given to create the least impact when the blinds were retracted. The structure was a mixture of cast and wrought iron, which can rust or flake over time. Fixing methods needed to be adopted that would not put unnecessary strain on the building and relied on weights as well as fixing points which meant special bracketry was designed and made specifically for this project.

The Ballyfin project included novel products which required a mock-up installation of working blinds to establish final sizing with precise templating for manufacturing purposes. Detailed CAD drawings were made and final deductions applied to get production sizing. In addition, wiring diagrams were drawn up to enable our client’s electrician to install wiring prior to the installation of blinds on site. A separate survey undertaken by the Fascia & Design Team was carried out to finalise the fascias design. Colourmatching to the structure colourwas applied to all blind hardware and brackets to minimisethe visual impact the proposed blinds would have. Once products and bracketry were ready, the core Installation Team carried out the implementation with the specialist fitters coming to dress the material once fitted. Electrical connections were made, blinds commissioned and then fascias were mounted.

For the Ballyfin project, specialised products were sourced and developed from reliable European partners. The natural French Pinoleum Material required flame-retardant material bathing and anti-fungicidal treatments spray applied to the material, with different suppliers. Purpose-designed bracketry was finalised and made in the UK, powder coated to agreed colour. The Grants team also coordinated the final detail of the curved rail guide system. The overseas location of Ballyfin, meant we also had to organise travel, accommodation, shipping and transport for UK based installers. Local suppliers were procured when possible.

This installation was bespoke in every sense, each blind had to be templated to fit and follow the curved roof structure without interfering with the adjacent blinds. The hardware was finished in a colour closely matching to the structure and fitted before the templates were made. Grants inhouse production in Kent produced the blind panels which were in turn edge braided to protect the edges from damage over time.

Each blind had to have rings positioned correctly on the rear side so that the folds between all the blinds were aligned. The blinds were then prepared for shipping as the installation was overseas.