Brick-faced precast concrete cladding panels

Brick-faced precast concrete cladding panels consist mainly of concrete with steel reinforcement cage and steel fixings with mortar and brick slips cast in the exposed surface. The brick slip in the context of this assessment is a mud clay brick cut in half to 50mm thicknesses. Cladding panels are manufactured with varying heights and widths with a depth of around 125mm to 155mm (142.8mm on average). Brick-faced precast cladding is mainly used in high-rise multistorey construction, including residential, offices, commercial and cultural buildings. Average density is around 2,003 kg/ m3 and compressive strengths after manufacture range between 40 to 50 MPa. Constituents include Portland cements (e.g. CEM I, CEM II A-L), SCMs (such as GGBS, limestone fines/ Betocarb), fine and coarse aggregates, water, admixtures, steel reinforcement and caging, metal fixings, and M4 mortar between the brick slips. The brick slips are firstly placed in the mould, followed by the reinforcement cage, fixings and temp works lifting anchors. The concrete is then poured into the mould to create a brick-facade cladding panel. The cladding is then given time to cure and harden, the joints between the slips are then pointed with mortar. They are then stocked at the factory site for a number of weeks prior to being transported to construction sites for installation. Precast concrete cladding units are usually expected to last throughout the life of a building (e.g. 60 to 100 years).