AnchorsAnchors - General Information

Anchors are safety-relevant construction products used to transfer loads from attached components into concrete or masonry. In practice, they are mostly post-installed fixings and are used across a wide range of applications - from steel connections and facade substructures to building services installations and safety barriers. Because anchors can be part of a load-bearing system, their performance needs to be reliable and verifiable, and both design and installation play a key role in ensuring safety.

The anchor product group covers different technologies, chosen depending on the load level, the base material and the application requirements:

Mechanical metal anchors (for example expansion anchors or concrete screws) transfer loads through friction and/or mechanical interlock with the base material. Depending on the anchor type and installation principle, they can be used in cracked and non-cracked concrete and are often selected where higher load levels or safety-relevant applications are involved.

Plastic anchors are mainly used in masonry or for lighter-duty applications. Their performance depends strongly on the substrate (solid or hollow units), the anchor geometry and how the anchor interacts with the base material. In hollow or perforated masonry, additional system components such as sleeves can be important to achieve dependable load transfer.

Bonded (chemical) anchors consist of a steel element installed into a drilled hole using an injection mortar. Loads are transferred through bond stresses between steel, mortar and the base material. These systems are often chosen for demanding applications and can offer flexibility in terms of embedment depth and load level. At the same time, their performance is more sensitive to installation quality, particularly hole cleaning and curing conditions, which is why clear installation instructions and proper training are essential.

From an engineering perspective, anchor behaviour is governed by the interaction between the anchor, the fixture and the base material. In concrete, typical failure modes include steel failure, concrete failure, pull-out, splitting and pry-out. Design therefore considers the base material condition (cracked or non-cracked), the load situation (tension, shear or combined loading), as well as spacing, edge distances and installation tolerances.

Under the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), anchors are commonly placed on the European market based on European Technical Assessments (ETAs) developed from European Assessment Documents (EADs). Construction Fixings Europe represents anchor manufacturers at European level and contributes to regulatory, technical and standardisation developments to support harmonised, robust and practical requirements for this product group.