Single Skin Panels
Single skin panels consist of a single layer of reinforced architectural precast concrete and represent Techrete’s most widely used panel type. They can be reinforced to achieve the required structural capacity and are commonly used on both low and high-rise buildings.
Typically 125–150mm thick, these non-loadbearing panels can be manufactured as flat units or custom-shaped to suit architectural requirements. A wide range of finishes, textures, and patterns is available.
Single skin panels deliver the key benefits of precast cladding, including design flexibility, thermal mass, sustainability advantages, high-quality off-site manufacture, rapid installation, long-term durability and minimal maintenance.
Featured Single Skin Project
Stoke Goods Yard
Sandwich Panels
Precast concrete sandwich panels can be designed as either load-bearing or non-load-bearing elements and provide a highly energy-efficient solution for external wall construction. Combining durability, fire resistance, and thermal performance, they are suitable for a wide range of building types and are available in multiple widths, lengths, depths, and exterior finishes.
Panel Composition:
The panel system can form the complete wall construction, providing both the internal and external wall build-up within a single prefabricated element. Panel geometry, concrete thickness, and insulation depth can be adjusted to suit structural, architectural and thermal performance requirements.
Structural Performance and Thermal Efficiency
The inner and outer concrete leaves are connected using stainless steel or plastic connectors. These connectors allow the outer leaf to expand and contract independently while maintaining structural integrity. Thermal bridging through the connectors is minimal, with steel connectors typically around 4 mm in diameter. Load transfer occurs through the concrete elements rather than the insulation, allowing a wide range of fibrous insulation materials to be used and enabling the inclusion of a cavity where required.
Optimised Structural Design
To fully optimise performance and economy, sandwich panels are typically designed with a load-bearing inner leaf capable of supporting floor units. This reduces the number of perimeter columns required, simplifies structural coordination and minimises the need for additional trades, delivering further efficiencies in programme and cost.
Featured Sandwich Panel Project
Dakota Hotel, Manchester
Industrial Sandwich Panels
Industrial precast insulated concrete sandwich panels provide a cost-effective, robust, energy-efficient, fire-resistant and durable cladding solution. They are particularly well suited to industrial and commercial applications requiring large, open internal spaces, including manufacturing and high-tech facilities, warehouse and distribution centres, food-processing buildings and retail outlets.
Panels are available in a wide range of lengths, widths, thicknesses and finishes to suit both functional and aesthetic requirements. This simple, efficient construction delivers long-term performance with minimal maintenance, making industrial sandwich panels an ideal solution for demanding environments.
Featured Industrial Sandwich Panel Project
Techrete Factory, Dublin.
Glass Reinforced Concrete Panels
Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) is one of the most innovative construction materials available and provides designers with complex aesthetics as well as exceptionally high performance.
GRC panels, generally ribbed or sandwich panels, provide durability, fire resistance, sound reduction and energy efficiency as well as the superior properties inherent in the material. With one-fifth of the weight for the same solution in precast concrete, this option is more suitable for areas with restricted access, and gives the building structure considerably less loads.
GRC panels are lightweight but extremely strong, and come in a wide variety of finishes and colours. Tough and impact-proof, they have unrivalled durability, being resistant to acid rain, ultra-violet light and freeze-thaw.
The glass fibres, which are dispersed throughout the concrete, serve a similar purpose to the steel in reinforced concrete.
Featured GRC Project
Tapestry, Kings Cross, London