Jane Wernick:
Thermal Break Connections for reinforced concrete
Jane Wernick, Consultant structural engineer at engineersHRW
Thermal break connections for reinforced concrete
The first version of this that I came across in the late 90’s was developed by Schoek and was called Isokorb. Similar products are now made by Halfen and Ancon, amongst others. It is basically a preformed set or cage of stainless steel reinforcing bars that pass through a strip of insulation. This allows reinforced concrete slabs to pass from the inside to the outside of a building through a thermal break that is able to carry the shear and bending moments in the slab. So, we can now have cantilevered balconies without cold bridges.