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422 Barry’s Advanced Construction of Buildings
Concrete
flank wall
Infill panel
Box
panel
Concrete
frame
exposed
Floor slab
projects as
balcony
Timber
or metal
infill
panel
Figure 7.6 Infill panels.
suction acting on it. Sufficient support and restraint fixings between the frame and the
surrounding structural members are required. The framing, its panels and sheet covering
must adequately resist the penetration of water to the inside face by a system of resilient
mastic, drained and sealed joints. The joints between the framing and the structure should
be filled with a resilient filler and weather sealed with mastic to accommodate structural,
moisture and thermal movements. To enhance the thermal resistance of the lightweight
framing and covering materials, double glazing and/or solar control glass should be used
with double skin insulated panels, insulation between framing members or behind sheet
covering materials.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the infill wall frame system was much used in framed buildings,
particularly for multi-storey housing. Many of the early infill wall frame systems suffered
deterioration due to the use of steel framing poorly protected against corrosion, panel
materials that absorbed water and poor jointing materials that gave inadequate protection
against rain penetration. These failures, coupled with the introduction of alternative walling
materials such as concrete, GRC and GRP panels and glazed walls, led to loss of favour of
wall infill framing. There were also problems with thermal bridging through the concrete
frame, as would be the case with the building illustrated in Figure 7.6. Thermal bridging
is difficult to design out of such structures, which are better suited to climates warmer than
the UK. In countries where summer temperatures are high and shade from the sun is a
necessity, many buildings are constructed with a reinforced concrete frame with projecting
floors and roof for shade and as an outdoor balcony area in summer, as illustrated in Figure