News

At mid-November an other high-rise tower burnt down, allegedly started by cigarette butt igniting a pile of debris. Polyethylene core Aluminium Composite Panel (ACP) propagates fire quickly, in an unstoppable manner. Large pieces of burning cladding panels rained from above, igniting other parts of the cladding and even some cars parked downstairs. The tragic event is due to wrong material selection, however it does not mean that ACP has to be avoided at all times. When applied only at isolated areas, or when the BS 8414/ NFPA 285 tested mineral core product is specified, the risk of a small fire resulting in such a significant damage is dramatically reduced. Having expert advice and a good specification from a facade consultant at design stage may indeed prove to be a worthwhile investment...

Two weeks later we got our annual Dubai rainstorm. With only a few days of rain in the UAE, there seem to be no awareness of water penetration and frequently little consideration is given to it when detailing the building envelope. Every year we hear "funny" stories of flooded apartments, water seeping in through electric conduits, parking garages with knee height water at the basement. This year we found our office entrance flooded, wish we could have been present when they had designed and built it!

As they say, "If you think good architecture is expensive, try bad architecture..." also goes for facade engineering.....