Panellised Steel Frame System
Panellised Steel Frame System – Fast, Precise, and Modular
Build smarter, faster, and more efficiently with our Panellised Steel Frame System. Designed for off-site fabrication, this modular steel construction solution combines strength, durability, and precision to accelerate your projects while reducing costs.
A panellised steel frame system is prefabricated in a factory as complete wall and floor panels, then delivered to site for rapid assembly. Off-site fabrication improves quality control and speed while reducing on-site labour, scaffolding and programme time for residential, commercial and multi-storey projects.
By Boyan Stanilov, Managing Director, BAS Frames · Last reviewed July 2026
Why Choose Panellised Steel Frames?
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Rapid Assembly: Factory-built steel panels arrive ready to install, cutting on-site labour and speeding up timelines.
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High-Quality Construction: Precision-engineered panels ensure consistent structural integrity and exacting tolerances.
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Design Flexibility: Customizable panels integrate cladding, insulation, windows, and MEP systems, making them adaptable to any architectural style.
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Cost-Effective & Sustainable: Reduce material waste, labour costs, and on-site disruption while delivering energy-efficient, long-lasting structures.
Benefits at a Glance
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Off-site prefabrication for faster construction
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Lightweight, high-strength steel panels
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Reduced on-site labour and waste
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Seamless integration with building systems
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Sustainable, energy-efficient design
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Scalable and adaptable for any project type
What is a panellised steel frame system?
A panellised steel frame system is built from wall and floor panels manufactured in a factory as flat, complete units, then delivered to site and assembled into the structure. It gives fast, dimensionally accurate frames for apartments, offices, mixed-use schemes and other multi-storey buildings.
Is panellised construction the same as modular construction?
No. Panellised construction delivers flat, two-dimensional wall and floor panels that are assembled into a structure on site. Modular — or volumetric — construction delivers finished three-dimensional room units that are craned into position. Panellised systems transport more efficiently and adapt to irregular layouts; volumetric modules carry more factory finish but need repetitive plans and far heavier lifting.
How does off-site panel fabrication work?
Panels are manufactured under factory conditions from cold-formed steel sections, jig-assembled to controlled tolerances and quality-checked before dispatch. Because fabrication runs in parallel with groundworks and substructure on site, the frame can go up as soon as the slab is ready — which is where most of the programme saving comes from, rather than from the speed of erection alone.
What are the main advantages of a panellised steel frame system?
- Programme: factory production overlaps with site works, and erection is fast once panels arrive
- Accuracy: jig-built panels hold tighter tolerances than site-assembled framing, which benefits every following trade
- Predictability: weather has far less effect on a factory production line than on site work
- Reduced site labour: fewer trades and less scaffolding time on a constrained site
- Waste and sustainability: controlled cutting reduces offcuts, and steel is fully recyclable
What comes fitted into the panels before delivery?
How much is pre-fitted is a commercial decision made at design stage. Panels can be delivered as a bare frame, or with sheathing board, breather membrane, insulation and formed window and door openings already installed. More factory content means less site work but heavier, more delicate loads to transport and lift, so the split is agreed against the site’s access and programme.
What site access does a panellised system need?
Panels arrive on articulated deliveries and are lifted into place, so the site needs somewhere to turn and unload a lorry, hardstanding for a crane or telehandler, and a lifting zone clear of overhead obstructions. Where those conditions cannot be met — tight urban plots, occupied buildings, awkward geometry — a stick-build frame assembled component by component is usually the better route.
How many storeys can a panellised steel frame reach?
Panellised light steel frames are commonly used up to around eight storeys as a stand-alone structure, subject to structural design, loading and wind conditions. Above that they are typically used as infill or façade panels fixed to a concrete or hot-rolled steel primary frame.
How far in advance do the panels need to be ordered?
Panels are made to the approved design, so the lead time covers detailed design, client approval of the fabrication drawings, and the factory production slot — not just manufacture. Bringing the specialist in early, before the design is frozen, is what protects the programme; a late appointment removes most of the advantage the system offers.
Does BAS Frames design, supply and install panellised systems?
Yes. BAS Frames delivers panellised steel frame systems as a single accountable package, from design and factory fabrication through to on-site assembly, across London, the South East and the wider UK.
Considering the alternative? See our stick-build steel frame system, or the full range of steel frame systems.