Forterra’s specialist supplier of precast concrete, Bison Precast, served up its latest cost-effective alternative to traditional building methods at the recent Offsite Construction Show.
Bison Precast’s Brick Faced Sandwich Panels are made by factory fitting brick finishes onto precast concrete panels, and are ideally suited to multi-storey structures in residential and commercial use developments.
Forterra has one of the largest selections of facing bricks in the UK and all can be specified and utilised seamlessly with these panels, making their manufacture extremely efficient, and it is hoped that this system may help address current and ongoing trade shortages in the on-site labour market.
The panels, which are an extension of Bison Precast’s cross wall frames, are cast with bricks placed within them, can be suitable for direct decoration and can also be manufactured with other features such as cast-in electricity conduits, plug sockets and even glazed windows installed at our factory, reducing the need for onsite labour during the build.
The system was unveiled at ExCel London at the annual celebration of offsite construction, where professionals from design, construction and innovation from all over the industry gathered to display and view the latest advances in the field.
Martin Bolton, National Sales Manager for Bison Precast, said, “There was a lot of interest at the Offsite Construction Show in our new Brick Faced Sandwich Panels, which, due to Forterra’s wide, pre-existing selection of bricks, offers customers a potentially much more cost-effective system of building larger, high rise structures.”
The Sandwich Panels typically measure four to eight metres in length by a storey height and weigh circa 7-14 tonnes, though Bison Precast’s team of experts can design bespoke panels based on customers’ requirements.
Martin continued, “This has been a project very close to my heart which we’ve been working on for some time, and we think that Forterra’s unparalleled mix of masonry products makes these panels an obvious choice for architects and developers looking to keep building at a high rate, without having to worry about a shortage of skilled onsite trades or material supply.”
An example of a completed precast Brick Faced Sandwich Panel, cast with Forterra bricks installed and ready to be delivered, at Bison Precast’s Somercotes facility in Derbyshire.