Give the balcony back its afternoons.
A retractable fabric awning on spring-tensioned folding arms — no posts, no permanent roof. Shade on demand over a Melrose Arch balcony, patio or piazza-facing terrace, disappearing into a slim cassette when you don't need it.
Why balconies here want one
A west- or north-facing balcony above the piazza can turn into an oven by mid-afternoon. A folding-arm awning turns that same space back into a usable room in summer, and retracts to let welcome winter sun through — the seasonal argument a fixed roof simply can't make. No posts means no interrupted skyline view and no clutter around a braai or entertaining area.
Projection runs to roughly 3–4m over wide spans, and solution-dyed acrylic fabrics hold their colour under South African UV — worth asking about if you want the awning to match your building's fascia or your own colour scheme.
Cassette, crank or motorised
A full cassette seals both fabric and arms away when retracted — the right call for a weather-exposed high-floor balcony. Semi-cassette and open mounting are lower-cost options for more sheltered positions.
Crank handle operation works, but motorised with a wind sensor is the responsible spec — see our page on motorised blinds & automation. An awning caught open in a Highveld thunderstorm gust can be destroyed; auto-retract protects the investment without you having to watch the sky. LED lighting and a vertical drop-valance are available as add-ons on premium lines.
Being honest about the limits
An awning is a shade product, not a rain product — fine at a pitch in light drizzle, never intended for storm rain or standing water. Wind ratings are real limits, not suggestions. And the fixing substrate matters: brick, timber and steel all take the arms differently, so a site assessment is part of every quote, not an afterthought.
What a folding-arm awning costs
An awning is priced on the shade it makes: the width along the wall multiplied by how far the arms reach out. Installed, that is R3,500 to R5,500 per square metre for a crank-handle unit and R5,500 to R7,500 per square metre motorised. A full cassette, a wind sensor and the deeper projections all sit at the top of their bands.
Even a short awning over a single door carries a minimum charge, since the arms, the cassette and the wall fixing are the same work at any width. The wall and the fixing detail have to be seen before they can be priced, so the written figure follows the free measure.
Fitting folding-arm awnings across Melrose & Melrose Arch
From Melrose Arch's own piazza-facing balconies to the entertaining terraces of renovated Dunkeld homes, the garden patios of Illovo and Birdhaven, and the deep stands of Houghton Estate, we measure and fit folding-arm awnings across the whole patch.
Ready to measure your balcony?
Free in-home measure, written per-window quote, no pressure.