Prefabricated concrete products for buildings (walls and floors)

The first prefabricated concrete products appeared in the second half of the 19th century, when reinforced concrete began to develop strongly. It was only a century later that the first factories were built to mass-produce them. Production equipment was specially developed and installed in these plants. A new industrial era began for the construction industry.

Technological progress has made a major contribution to the automation and reliability of production facilities, enabling us to manufacture high-quality products with consistent, guaranteed characteristics. At the same time, national and European standards have been developed to assess the performance of concrete products according to their intended use. These include

• a genuine standardization and certification effort that has enabled most products to be characterized by precise specifications;

• a policy of developing "quality marks" (e.g. NF mark), the purpose of which is to indicate to users that the products available meet their needs and the specifications laid down in standards.

Finally, a sustained research and development effort has led to :

• to gain a better understanding of product manufacturing techniques, and therefore better control over them in order to ensure consistent product quality;

• improve the various performances of concrete materials, in particular their mechanical characteristics and durability (e.g. high-performance concretes);

• to understand the behavior of products in use, in order to ensure the specific functions for which they are intended, and to reduce design, construction and operating costs.

Today, concrete products cover all residential and tertiary uses in the living environment, as well as environmental and public space requirements for sustainable regional development. Resistant, with guaranteed performance and ease of use, concrete products enable rapid, economical and durable construction.

In 2020, the concrete industry is made up of 461 companies and 722 production sites, weaving a dense territorial network that ensures proximity of delivery to construction sites, proximity of raw materials and thus savings in transport and energy. The concrete industry represents sales of 2.8 billion euros and a volume of 21 million tonnes of concrete products. A total of 19,200 direct jobs are created in local, non-relocatable trades, contributing to the dynamism and development of local communities.

The remainder of this article describes in detail concrete products for residential and commercial...