ShapeShift Technologies manufactures glass fibre reinforced concrete, FRP and glass reinforced gypsum facade panels on Batam Island, Indonesia. Over roughly 25 years the business has delivered more than 350 projects across 18 countries from this base, for architects, facade consultants, Tier 1 builders and public art commissioners.
The plant at a glance. Two buildings giving 100,000 sq ft (9,290 sqm) of factory space and the same again outdoors. Production of around 40,000 sq ft (3,716 sqm) a month, which is 480,000 sq ft a year. Capacity scales two to three times on six months’ notice. ISO 9001 accredited for ten years.
Where it is
Batam is an island in Indonesia’s Riau Islands province, immediately south of Singapore across the Singapore Strait. It is a free trade zone and one of Indonesia’s established manufacturing and heavy fabrication centres, which is why the industrial services a facade plant depends on, steel fabrication, freight forwarding and skilled trades, are available locally rather than having to be imported.
The commercial consequence for a project is straightforward. Panels are made in an Asian cost base and shipped from an Asian port, while the engineering, shop drawings and project management run from the Australian office in Newstead, Brisbane. A specifier deals with an English-speaking team working to Australian and international documentation standards, and pays for panels made where facade panels are economic to make.
What the factory does
Glass fibre reinforced concrete
ShapeShell-RC is glass fibre reinforced concrete, the material called GFRC in the United States and GRC across the UK, the Gulf and Asia. It is sprayed and premix cast into thin, lightweight panels that carry the appearance and surface of architectural concrete at a fraction of the weight of precast. Full material detail sits on the ShapeShell-RC page.
Architectural FRP
ShapeShell-RT is fibre reinforced polymer, vacuum infused for metal-like strength at a fraction of the weight. It is the material used where a panel has to be very large, very light, or shaped in ways concrete cannot follow. See the ShapeShell-RT page.
Glass reinforced gypsum
ShapeShell-RG is glass reinforced gypsum, cast for interior walls, ceilings, domes and feature elements where a seamless plaster finish is wanted. See the ShapeShell-RG page.
Moulds and tooling are made in-house
This is the part of the plant that decides what geometry is possible. Mould making and CNC formwork are done on site rather than outsourced, which means double-curvature and freeform panels can be quoted and built without a separate tooling supplier in the chain. A facade with a thousand unique panel geometries is a tooling problem before it is a casting problem, and plants without in-house mould capability decline that work or price the risk into it.
The same capability covers lost formwork and stay-in-place formwork for civil and infrastructure work, and one-off moulds for public art fabrication.
Quality and testing
| Item | Position |
|---|---|
| Quality management system | ISO 9001 accredited for ten years |
| Industry body | GRCA Full Member, International Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete Association, graded as a sprayed GRC manufacturer |
| Independent plant assessment | The Batam plant is the assessed manufacturing location on the GRCA Full Member listing |
| Fire test evidence | Independently tested. Standards, laboratories and results on the facade fire test evidence page |
| Warranty | Up to 50 years |
| Track record | More than 350 projects across 18 countries, roughly 25 years |
The GRCA membership is worth reading carefully rather than taking as a logo. Full Member is the assessed grade: the manufacturer has to demonstrate its capability to the association, and the assessment attaches to a named plant. On the ShapeShift Technologies listing that assessed manufacturing location is ShapeShell International Indonesia, Executive Industrial Park Block A2 No. 1, Batam Center, Batam Island. In other words the plant described on this page is the plant the association assessed, not a head office with production somewhere else.
Fire test regimes differ by country and no result transfers automatically between them. The facade fire standards atlas compares the cladding fire regimes of nine jurisdictions side by side, including EN 13501-1, NFPA 285, BS 8414 and AS 1530.1. What ShapeShell holds against each is set out on the fire test evidence page.
Capacity and lead time
Steady-state output is around 40,000 sq ft (3,716 sqm) a month, or 480,000 sq ft a year. On six months’ notice that scales two to three times, which is the figure that matters for a large single-package tower or stadium facade where the whole envelope lands in one programme window rather than spread across a year.
For standard formats held in stock, see the standard product range. For anything geometrically bespoke, the bespoke facade page sets out the design and engineering process.
Terms explained
Short definitions of the terms on this page, in our facade materials encyclopedia.
Common questions
Where are ShapeShell panels manufactured?
On Batam Island in the Riau Islands province of Indonesia, across two buildings giving 100,000 sq ft of factory space and the same again outdoors, with further scalable fabrication capacity in Asia. The Australian office is in Newstead, Brisbane.
How much can the factory produce in a month?
Around 40,000 sq ft or 3,716 square metres a month, which is 480,000 sq ft a year. Capacity scales two to three times on six months’ notice.
Is the factory certified?
The quality management system has held ISO 9001 accreditation for ten years. ShapeShift Technologies is also a GRCA Full Member of the International Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete Association, graded as a sprayed GRC manufacturer, and the Batam plant is the assessed manufacturing location on that listing.
Which materials are made there?
ShapeShell-RC, which is glass fibre reinforced concrete and is called GFRC in the United States and GRC in the UK and Asia; ShapeShell-RT, which is architectural FRP; and ShapeShell-RG, which is glass reinforced gypsum, also called GFRG.
Does ShapeShift make its own moulds?
Yes. Mould making and CNC formwork are done in-house, which is what allows double-curvature and freeform panels to be produced without outsourcing the tooling.
Reviewed by Richard Halvorsen, General Manager, ShapeShift Technologies.