Thursday, May 03, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai Lack of public safety awareness by the building community is the chief cause of the installation of non fire-rated cladding panels on high-rises across the country, says one of the largest cladding manufacturers in the UAE.
While non fire-rated cladding panels are less expensive than certified fire-retardant panels, the savings are traditionally not of a sufficient amount to prompt builders to abandon safer building materials on very large, multi-million dollar projects, said Shaji Ul Mulk, chairman of Mulk Holdings.
The multinational parent firm owns 20 companies, one of which is Alubond, a metal composite panel manufacturing firm with a 50,000 square-metre factory in Ajman as well as other production facilities in the US, Europe and India.
Alubond tiles in non fire-rated and fire-rated categories are sold in more than 90 countries, he said.
“Contrary to popular opinion, the cost of fire-rated panels is not very expensive,” Ul Mulk said in an exclusive interview yesterday following a Gulf News report that 500 skyscrapers across the UAE may be enclosed with dangerous non fire-rated aluminium cladding panels.
The warnings from industry experts come after a major tower fire this week in Sharjah in which cladding tiles appeared to feed a fire on the exterior, according to residents. The fire rating of the tiles in the Al Tayer Tower fire has not been disclosed.
Awareness needed
There were no fatalities or injuries reported in the blaze that temporarily forced 400 families out of their homes. Some residents, whose flats suffered minimal damage, were expected to return to their homes last night. “The cost impact is less than ten per cent of the panel contract cost. For example, a 10,000 square-metre project for non fire-rated composite panel contract would cost approximately Dh1.85 million to Dh1.9 million,” Ul Mulk said.
“A superior B1 standard fire-rated cladding would cost around Dh2 million and the top range A2 fire-rated panels would cost around Dh2.1 million.”
Serious education campaigns by government regulators within the national construction industry are needed, he said, to heighten awareness and to inform installation companies and builders that only fire-rated aluminium cladding should be used to finish exterior walls of high-rise towers.
“It is the awareness of risks and availability of product locally, combined with government legislation, that will be the key factors in changing the mindset of developers,” Ul Mulk said.
“I am sure any developer would be willing to spend this small extra cost if he is made aware of the risks and the easy availability of the fire-rated materials as this would, in turn, give the developer a higher-standard safe building,” he said.
Ul Mulk said Abulond fire-rated panels were “approved by Civil Defence departments in UAE”, and provided a series of recent certificates from March 2012 confirming the panels met stringent fire tests.
By Derek Baldwin?Chief Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
