Engineering and Construction

‘Stick-build’ or panel components may be assembled in either ‘platform’ or ‘balloon’ construction, as illustrated in Fig. 5.35. In platform construction, walls and floors are built sequentially one level at a time, so the walls are not structurally continuous.

In some forms of construction, loads from the walls above are transferred through the floor joists to the wall below.

In ‘balloon’ construction, the wall panels are often much larger and are continuous over more than one storey. Such panels are more difficult to erect than  single storey height panels and have to be temporarily braced whilst the floors are installed. The main advantage of this approach is that loads from the walls above are transferred directly to those below.

In both forms of construction, the external cladding or finishes  are generally installed and attached to the frames on-site.

Fig. 5.35 ‘Platform’ and ‘balloon’ forms of panel construction