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Norco Composites & GRP (Poole, Dorset, U.K.) recently partnered with  (P&M, Loughborough, U.K.) to undertake a time-sensitive project for the Ellison Institute of Transformative Medicine (EITM). This project involved providing glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) molds to create six 20-meter-long cast concrete architectural beams for a new interdisciplinary R&D facility in Oxford, U.K. These molds were completed within a 5-month window, highlighting Norco’s ability to deliver large-scale, complex projects on tight schedules.

Faced with a tight production schedule and a significant build size, the P&M team sought Norco’s expertise in large composite specialist builds. Despite a busy order book, Norco successfully integrated this project, demonstrating its commitment to supporting trusted suppliers and meeting client demands.

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The project employed traditional wet layup techniques for the mold production, incorporating complex locating features for precise concrete pouring applications. Heavy lifting, exceeding 23 tonnes, was required for both the pattern and mold. Norco also integrated heavy metallic supporting structures with composites via welding.

P&M was responsible for the master pattern design and manufacture, mold design and engineering, and supplied the steel fabrications for Norco to bond into the laminate.

Why the use of composite tools for cast concrete applications? “The main reasoning behind the use of GFRP composite molds was quality,” explains Norco’s Harry Dodge. “Composite tooling allows for large, complex surfaces to be manufactured cost-effectively compared to metallic or wooden options. Similarly, these tools are intended for multiple uses, so the hardwearing and rigid nature of GFRP enables multiple parts to be cased without remaking or repairing a different tool each time. Similarly, the modular flanges enable easy ejection of the part, and high-precision locating for the parts, which nest together on-site to produce the elegant structure seen in the renders [of the architectural beams] on the . The flanges also contain a vacuum line to ensure complete sealing of the tool.”

Gary Lucas, program lead and managing director at P&M, adds that the use of composites also “offer an almost seamless surface; joints in molds often create witness lines on the finished precast concrete units, and the project’s client was after as near to perfect units as could be achieved. Given the approximately 20-meter lengths of these units, composite molds were the only option in avoiding joints. As Harry has also mentioned, where we do have to have joints to allow the precast concrete units to demold, the joint flanges have location details to ensure a perfect realignment between uses and rubber seals built into channel details to ensure the molds remain watertight.”

This project not only highlighted Norco’s expertise but also demonstrated effective collaboration within the composites industry.