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© Ibstock Plc. 2024
Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC)
Based in the West Midlands, our GRC facility expertly designs, develops and engineers modern methods of construction for mid and high-rise buildings in the residential and commercial sectors including energy efficient facade technologies, large format panel systems and bespoke facade solutions.
Design with Glass Reinforced Concrete Facade Competition
Ibstock and EH Smith are calling for designers to submit great designs to showcase their talents with glass reinforced concrete façade panels. The winning design will be judged by RIBA, Associated Architects, EH Smith and Ibstock and displayed in the new showroom of EH Smith in Digbeth.
Design with Glass Reinforced Concrete Facade Competition
Ibstock and EH Smith are calling for designers to submit great designs to showcase their talents with glass reinforced concrete façade panels. The winning design will be judged by RIBA, Associated Architects, EH Smith and Ibstock and displayed in the new showroom of EH Smith in Digbeth. See more
GRC
GRC is a thin walled, lightweight composite concrete with excellent flexural capacity. These properties allow bespoke and daring features and forms to be created in a wide range of applications.
GRC is a fibre reinforced pre-cast concrete with a sand cement matrix in a typical wall thickness of 12 to 15mm thick. Reinforced rib profiles created around the perimeter and across the rear face at designed centres provide the structural integrity of the components. These ribs are between 50 and 100mm in depth and are not visible once the facade is assembled.
GRC is made using an environmentally friendly composite in lightweight concrete sections created by a proprietary process of machine spraying an enriched OP cement and silica sand mix within which alkali resistant glass fibres and polymers combine to provide the engineered performance.
DESIGNABLE
BUILDABLE
SUSTAINABLE
RELIABLE
Your Vision Realised
- Custom fit moulds allow you full control over your facade profile
- Design with an immense range of colours and textures and geometric forms.
GRC Technology CPD
Engineered panels for advanced construction. Book onto our newest CPD to learn more about GRC’s Designability, Buildability, Sustainability and Reliability. See more
Testing
A full member of GRCA (Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete Association) Ibstock place key emphasis on ensuring we operate our facilities to the highest possible standards. As a manufacturer, we conform to ISO 9001-2008 Quality Management, ISO 14001 for Environmental Standards and ISO 4501 for Health and Safety.
This ethos of ensuring quality is continued into the testing of products we provide and our methods of production.
We have an in-house testing facility, which in addition to daily calibration and quality control measures, enables us to test isolated panels produced on any given day. A barcode scanning system creates total traceability throughout the production process with unique panel reference labels attached to every unit for delivery.
Accelerated Weather Testing
With Lucideon, Ibstock have conducted accelerated weather testing with polished aggregate, brick faced and standard GRC panels.
The weight of brick faced GRC is 40% of hand laid brick and 25% of precast. Accellerated weather testing has been undertaken to determine the mechanical bond strength and the performance of the brick, mortar and concrete in accordance with ETAG 034. Impact and pull off testing were also undertaken with further detailed evaluation underway for review for a soffit application as well as general service as a cladding medium by the NHBC.
Fire Testing
When evaluating appropriate facade materials for your project, fire performance is of critical importance.
Both our GRC and Brick Faced GRC are EN 13501-1 tested and achieve an A1 Non-combustible Euro Class Fire Rating.
This A1 classification ensures that Ibstock facade products are compliant for use on projects above and below 18m and gives our customers reassurance that we provide fire safe facades. Click here to download our A1 certificates.
CWCT Full Scale Structural Testing
Generally, the performance of Grade 18p GRC (as with pre-cast concrete) is determined by engineered calculations however, on a variety of projects our GRC systems have undergone CWCT weather performance and impact testing.
The Centre for Window and Cladding Technology (The CWCT) is an independent provider of technical guidance and information for testing the structural integrity of facade systems and building envelopes.
Systems undergo a range of tests to measure:
- Air Permeability
- Water Penetration
- Wind Resistance (serviceability & safety)
- Impact Resistance (soft & hard body)
Strength Testing
To verify the strength of our GRC material, we conduct a 4-point flexural test. Below are the mechanical properties of Norskreen Grade 18p GRC at 28 day:
Properties | Result |
|---|---|
MOR28 | 18-30 N/mm2 |
LOP28 | 5-10 N/mm2 |
UTS288-12 | 8-12 N/mm2 |
BOP28 | 4-6 N/mm2 |
Interlaminar Shear | 2-4 N/mm2 |
In-Plane Shear | 7-12 N/mm2 |
Punching Shear | 25-25 N/mm2 |
Charpy Impact Strength | 15-25 N/mm2 Dry |
Bulk Density | 18-21 Kg/m3 |
Water Absorption | 8-13% |
Apparent Porosity | 16-21% |
Testing reports and approvals
We operate to ISO 9001-2008 quality management systems and secured approval as a manufacturer of the GRCA.
The storey height M4 and Norskreen systems have been tested for impact resistance and CWCT at the Vinci UK test centre and a brick faced GRC system is currently undergoing accelerated weathering tests at the Lucideon laboratories. The company operates a continuous testing regime upon the LOP and MOR performance of its GRC products in their in house facilities.
Ibstock Futures
Ibstock Futures aims to maximize Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in the UK by collaborating with developers and contractors on new systems. See more
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