GRC Facade and Building Sustainability - Technology, Engineering, Utility

 

The commercial use of Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) spray mix for making expansive yet lightweight panels for building facades is a concept that has been proven in use for more than 2 decades. However, the invention of the material itself can be traced back to the Ancient Greek Periods, and more prominently in the 1940s.

Pivotally, this material supplements immense design versatility, that is unparalleled by any other material. Today the most significant quality of this technology is to support the ethics endorsed by every supreme level curtain wall contractor in the UK, this is a great utility for Sustainable Building Development for a multitude of reasons. Here’s all you need to know.

The Technology Behind GRC Facade Development

 

Glass Reinforced concrete is a man-made material wherein a pre-cast cementitious matrix of 50-50 sand and cement is sprayed into high-strength glass fibre leveraging the resulting reinforcement. The matrix consisting of the typical 12mm to 15mm thickness is framed with integral ribs that may be made of steel or GRC, creating panels weighing less than 50kgs per square metre, and have a depth of 50mm to 100mm.

 

The core benefit of this development is that first of all it is around 80% more lightweight than facade concrete cladding with steel-reinforcement. This very element makes GRC a highly versatile material - featuring supreme compressive strength as well as design flexibility.

 

The most beneficial element about this material is that it is capable of creating essentially Fire-Resistant structures. And it is safe to say that there is possibly no such shape or design model that a GRC matrix cannot support, including adding of texture, smoothness and profiling. Whether it is for complex construction guidelines for new structures or remodelling an existing building facade with over-cladding, it is typically a permanent, durable and sustainable solution. The technology also makes it possible to be constructed offsite.

How Is GRC Different from Aluminum Facade

While Aluminium is the main resource for Facade framing, the GRC is most relevant for use as a facade panel. While many building designers proposed the possibilities of GRC panels being a utilitarian alternate to the Aluminum panels, there is reason enough to believe that none can replace the other and each have their own advantages in distin+ct formulations. Today, most buildings envelop developers and rainscreen contractor would have both the materials and technologies, it is only a matter of choice of what fits your building development objectives.

Sustainable Building Utilities - For Now and the Future

The core objective of a Sustainable Buiding involves the multi-variate commitments towards not only energy efficiency but also towards the environmental stewardship through production and manufacturing guidelines, and also the fact how the buildings need conservation and maintenance utilities.

 

The utility of building facades made out of Glass Reinformed Concrete serves the purpose for a wide range of objectives - made out of available resources and recycled materials,  which has a reduced consumption rate of fossil fuels.

 

Developed under the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in the UK, in the 1940s, the GRC material now holds a BREEAM A+ rating. The manufacturing process minimized the emission of harmful Co2 gasses, which may be further enhanced with reduced load bearing on the superstructure.