ETFE cladding
Cladding that lets the light through.
ETFE isn't only a roof material. As cladding it gives you a weather-tight, translucent skin at a fraction of the weight of a glazed façade — which is often the only way to add enclosure to an existing building.
A glazed façade is heavy, and most of that weight is framing. On a new building that cost is designed in. On an existing one — a City office roof, a refurbished hall, a structure that has already used its load capacity — it usually isn't available at all.
ETFE cladding changes the arithmetic. The foil is measured in microns and the supporting extrusions are slim, so an enclosure that would have needed strengthening works in glass can often be fixed straight to what is already there. It is weather-tight, UV-stable for decades, self-cleaning, and classified for fire performance to EN 13501-1.
Because it is formed rather than cut, it will follow a curve. Wrapped, vaulted and freeform cladding that would need bespoke curved glass is ordinary work in foil.
Where ETFE cladding is used.
01
Rooftop enclosures
Walkways, pods and amenity structures added to existing roofs with almost no added load.
02
Large-span façades
Translucent walls to halls, arenas and enclosures where glazing would need heavy framing.
03
Plant and equipment screening
Weather-tight, ventilated cover over plant, substations and cooling equipment.
04
Curved and wrapped forms
Cladding that follows a curve or a freeform surface without bespoke curved glass.
05
Lit façades
The foil takes light beautifully — façades that read as lanterns after dark.
06
Printed and shaded skins
Frit patterns tune solar gain, privacy and appearance across a single elevation.
In practice
Bevis Marks: a rooftop walkway a City building could actually carry.
An ETFE-clad walkway and pod structure added to an occupied office roof — sheltered and daylit, without the strengthening a glazed enclosure would have demanded.