Precast concrete

Whatever the size or complexity of your project, our Timber Moulds are genuinely limited only by the ambition of your project.

We can produce very large one-piece Timber Moulds and regularly create Timber Moulds of 8-12m long. For the redevelopment project at Stornaway House on Pall Mall, we produced one-piece Timber Moulds of 19m long for the roof beams. And we recently completed a sectional mould, for a new platform of the London Docklands Light Railway, which totalled over 30m in length once assembled.

If your project requires a blemish-free surface, especially if it will entail large Timber Moulds, we can apply a GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) coating to the entire casting surface of our Timber Moulds to remove evidence of panel joins and nail marks and deliver a premium quality smooth finish.

Alternatively, should your project entail decorative panels, we can achieve the most intricate detailing with our in-house CNC-Router. Or we can apply a rubber mould liner to your Timber Mould.

In keeping with our environmental policy, Patterns & Moulds uses only timber ethically sourced from managed sustainable forests for your Timber Moulds. Then, to ensure that they will withstand the pressures exerted on them in use, we line your Timber Moulds with high quality birch plywood. All of the timber materials we source comply with either FSC or PEFC environmental standards.

Glass Reinforced Plastic or GRP Moulds are tough, lightweight and extremely durable in use and because de-moulding and reassembly of GRP Moulds is so rapid, they can deliver significant productivity benefits.

All Patterns & Moulds split GRP Moulds have a joggle joint feature to perfectly re-align parts back together once the GRP moulds have been stripped of cast units and integral rubber seals provide a grout tight barrier.

All of our GRP is manufactured in-house by our specialist team of fibreglass laminators.

Each project starts with a timber master pattern, produced by our own pattern makers, often in conjunction with machining on our CNC Routers to meet tight tolerances and geometrically challenging specifications.

GRP Moulds come with either timber or steel support frames which are fully bonded into the body of the moulds for added strength and rigidity. All steelwork is produced by our own steel fabricator on site, so that we can maintain tight controls over production quality and accuracy.

Embracing changes in the composites industry we now regularly use Rapid Tooling System resins, for master mould production, along with Vinyl Esters for more demanding high quality applications, finishing to high gloss polished surfaces.

Polyurethane Rubber Mould liners deliver the flexibility to allow more complex or heavily moulded units to be successfully produced where a GRP or Timber Mould alone would be unsuitably rigid.

Hand pouring of rubber is a skill offered by very few companies in the UK but has applications across many markets.

We can supply polyurethane Rubber Moulds in GRP outer moulds or built into timber moulds, depending upon the type and size of the finished cast item. And we can cast the Rubber Moulds in a wide range of grades, offering varied flexibility and durability, to ensure you can easily strip your cast units from the moulds without the risk of damaging intricate features.

The images show various panels including formliners being cast at 8 x 3mtrs and heavily contoured panels for the front façade of the P&O Cruise Headquarters in Southampton.

Each mat measured up to 5m x 3m and weighed in excess of 400kg and, once cured, was installed into a curved Timber Mould. You’ll find full details of this prestigious project included in Case Studies.

We also supply rubber formliners to your specification, or we can undertake designs these to meet your individual requirements, then produce the master tooling on our CNC Routers

Watch the team hand laying a rubber mat here: https://vimeo.com/25233416

Some forms of construction require much more heavy duty mould materials. Patterns & Moulds can supply competitively priced Steel Moulds which meet all of our stringent mould manufacturing principles.

Our Steel Moulds are built to last, and do not compromise on accuracy and tight tolerances. These moulds are ideal for standard production as well as for longer production runs where durability is key to minimise down time and optimise cost efficiency.

All of our Steel Moulds are supplied with fast thread fixings and grout seals as standard and we can install vibrator mounting plates if these are required to meet your specifications.