Alucopanel urges a ban on combustible ACP

Alucopanel Middle East Euroclass A2 Non-Combustible Grade ACM/MCM, avoids spreading of fire to exterior wall claddings of high- rise buildings

The company is a subsidiary of the Danube Group and a joint venture between Danube Group and Alucopanel USA.

Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairperson at Danube Group believes that human life must be valued and protected. “As a part of the real estate community I appeal to the fellow members to come together in making sure that only the best safety solutions are developed and deployed without any compromise. We need to take control now by planning how we will go about curbing the mishaps or accidents, especially fire related.”

Almost 90% high-rise skyscrapers built before 2012 in GCC are cladded with non-fire-retardant grade aluminium composite panels due to no stringent measures and codes.

Currently, the region’s construction community- consultants and owners are looking for solutions, suggestions and codes to curb fatal fire accidents. The government of UAE examined the fire and life safety code in March which will entail detailed information on don’ts and dos.

One of the major reasons behind these active measures is the increasing fires that have occurred in skyscrapers across the country including Tamweel Tower, The Torch, and the Address Hotel Downtown Hotel. All of the towers used the traditional Aluminium Composited Panel (ACP) made of combustible material (LDPE).

Though the reasons behind building fires are range from spark in electric wiring to cigarette-butt thrown carelessly, the fire itself propagates because of thermoplastic core material used in manufacturing of aluminium composite panels which works as fuel in fire propagation.

There are three elements –fuel, oxygen and heat– that are required to combine before ignition and combustion can take place to start and continue the fire.

Zohaib Rahman, division head at Alucopanel Middle East urged: “Ban everything other than Class A2 in accordance to EN 13501 for high-rise buildings or structures which have a height of more than 15 metres. Buildings with height any less than 15 metres can have Class B1 in accordance to EN 13501 OR Class A in accordance to ASTM E84 grade material, however any grade less than B1 should not be considered at all under the new UAE Fire-safety code 2016.

“Any ACP material which contains combustible components will not be able to get Euroclass A2 fire certification as they won’t pass the test. A product with the main ingredient of the core material, which disallows the diffusion of flame and restricts the development of smoke in accordance to following test standards.”