Selly Oak Student Accommodation 5
facades

Offsite Solutions

Offsite Solutions

Over the last decade, there has been a significant uptake in all methods of offsite construction driven by the demand for new homes, the current skills shortage and changes in environmental regulations. Precast concrete, light gauge steel, engineered timber and volumetric modular are now established approaches to manufacture and delivery.

The increased trend towards offsite manufacturing, particularly in the residential sector, has meant that it is now necessary to call upon these methods of construction to increase output and keep up with demand.

Utilising precast and prefabricated brick components across a facade can provide significant benefits to both the project design and its construction timeline. Complex elements such as soffits, lintels, arches and chimneys, which require skilled onsite labour, can instead be manufactured offsite under controlled and consistent conditions.

Components

Precast Concrete Lintels

Precast concrete brick-faced lintels are often used to create intricate, load bearing brick patterns around window heads and openings. Giving the impression of unsupported brickwork, these lintels are a low cost and resilient facade component that is particularly difficult to recreate using traditional methods.

Using a pre-stressed casting system, these concrete lintels can be cast to fit any section of your facade before being clad in matching brickwork. Available using any brick colour, finish, length and bond pattern, lintels need not be a limiting factor when it comes to your project design.

For consistent results, speak to one of our team

Prefabricated Stainless Steel Soffit

Deep reveals and brick soffits are an increasingly popular design component that can add interest and depth to any brick facade. Though striking, these details can pose engineering problems as the brick facade is required to continue, uninterrupted across these openings, while seeming unsupported by visible steelwork.

Using a prefabricated stainless-steel soffit is a lightweight method of achieving these features and in most cases, will allow the brick faced units to be applied on site without specialist lifting equipment, reducing installation time and cost. Again, almost any brick can be utilised in the soffit construction, matching the project brickwork and ensuring seamless, reliable results.

For technical assistance, speak to our teams

Precast & Prefabricated Brick Arches

Used across large residential schemes and single, commercial landmarks, brick arches have been a prevalent design feature across UK architecture for centuries. Originally made from standard sized bricks and constructed on site, modern manufacturing and technology has enabled a cost-effective way of recreating these features without the intensive on-site labour.

Brick arches can be formed using both precast concrete or a prefabricated stainless-steel bracket and can accommodate most brick finishes and bond patterns. Taylor Maxwell can supply a wide range of brick clad arch patterns including segmental, flat, gothic and parabolic. Our teams can additionally offer apex arches and bullseyes, while providing design and technical guidance as you consider options.

For a full estimating service, speak to our teams

Prefabricated Brick Chimneys

Chimneys built using traditional, on-site methods can be expensive and time consuming to construct. However, due advances in construction techniques, a prefabricated alternative can be employed, bringing with it multiple benefits. Not only time and cost saving, this modern and lightweight method can also increase internal project space due to the lack of requirement for a chimney breast.

For a truly lightweight solution, Taylor Maxwell can supply a glass reinforced plastic (GRP) chimney as another alternative. Available in any size and finished to almost any style, GRP chimneys often weigh less than 30kg, making them an ideal solution for quick installation.

Suitable for use in a variety of locations on the roof, these chimneys can be ordered as a non-working, cosmetic only unit or can come complete with an insulated in wall system suitable for log burners, stoves and other appliances.

Speak to our teams for our full CAD design service and installation guides
details

Offsite Lightweight Cladding

Alongside the increase in offsite modular construction, there is a growing need for lightweight cladding systems that are suitable for offsite installation and durable enough to withstand being lifted, transported to site and craned into position.

Our lightweight facade systems, including our Anvil metal cladding and Corium brick cladding, allow the facade and components of a modular building to be prefabricated under quality-controlled factory conditions, delivered to site and installed efficiently and quickly without the need for substantial finishing on site. These systems provide an ideal solution for refurbishment projects where existing building structures need to be extended and foundations cannot be altered, or where an alternative facade material finish is required that minimises the load on the existing foundations.

Cladding panels are manufactured and delivered to site ready for installation either as a fully finished panel/component, or in the case of brick slip cladding, ready to be pointed with the rest of the brickwork on site.

Anvil Metal Cladding Corium Brick Cladding
TM Coventry 7

Precast Panels/Facades

As well as our range of architectural and structural components, we facilitate both hybrid and full facade solutions. This portfolio includes full facade panels which are available in a variety of material finishes and colours including acid etched, grit blasted, polished, exposed aggregate, stone-faced, brick-faced and tile-faced.

A facing brick finish can be used for most bespoke precast-concrete applications, including columns and wall panels. A combination of precast-concrete finishes can be used within adjacent units, and smaller elements can be used in combination with traditional brickwork, such as brick-faced lintels or underslung soffits.

If choosing a facing brick finish, the selection of brick type should be a key consideration, not only for visual impact but for manufacture and overall cost. Purpose-made precast brick slips or practically any cut traditional brick material can be used, but not all brick types are appropriate or as easy to bond into concrete.

Colour uniformity of the brick material must be considered, and pallets should be mixed to minimise any obvious variations on a facade. This is particularly important for large expanses of brickwork, or where adjacent panels are manufactured at different times, decreasing the risk of colour changes between panels. This needs to be stated in the material specification.

Selly Oak Student Accommodation 9 ed

Product selector

Use our product selector tool to explore examples of the colours, textures and finishes we offer.

- or -

- or -

Product selector tool
Selly Oak Student Accommodation 6
Selly Oak Student Accommodation 1
Wates Construction Central Square Wellington Street Leeds 2
Wates Construction Central Square Wellington Street Leeds 15
Wates Construction Central Square Wellington Street Leeds 7
KFM Edmund Sumner 0021
KFM Edmund Sumner 0036
KFM Edmund Sumner 0022
Earlham Primary 017 SKY REPLACEMENT Large
Earlham Primary 014 SKY REPLACEMENT Large 2
Walker Primary 002 Large
Walker Primary 030 Sky Replacement Large
Walker Primary 021 Large
Riverside House Salford 6
Riverside House Salford 7 3
Riverside House Salford 19
80 Charlotte Street 9
80 Charlotte Street 21
16 Church Street Close up
WDC Jim Stephenson 23 Mid Res
WDC Jim Stephenson 18 Mid Res
Kings Crescent Hackney 24
Kings Crescent Hackney 7
01 /06

Speak to our team

To speak to one of our team, call us on 0203 794 9377 or email enquiries@taylor.maxwell.co.uk

Contact our team
Facades cta