Business & Money | Wednesday 27 April, 2016 4:24 pm |

Efforts by UAE authorities to commit to updating building regulations following recent high profile fires in the region have been welcomed as an ‘example’ for the rest of the world to follow by Knauf Insulation, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of insulation products and solutions.

 

Barry Lynham, Group Strategy Director of Knauf Insulation, addressed attendees of the Civil Defense Authority’s annual Fire Safety Technology Forum in Dubai today. This year’s Forum focused on “Innovation for High Rise Resilience” following the recent fire incidents which involved Super High Rise Buildings in Dubai and global public attention.

 

Lynham highlighted some of the issues surrounding recent façade fires drawing experience from Europe and more recent fires in the UAE.

 

“The construction sector is innovating at an unprecedented rate but building fire safety regulations across the world have not been able to keep up the pace,” commented Lynham during the event.

 

Drawing on experience in Europe, Lynham highlighted the enormous challenge facing European countries as they rollout mass renovation programmes as part of efforts to meet domestic and international energy and climate goals. The challenge is equally great for the UAE, he said, not only to ensure the resilience of new, particularly super-high rise, buildings, but also to renovate existing buildings.

 

“As we change the nature of our buildings it is vital that there are standards in place that reflect the real life performance of facade systems. Unfortunately nowhere in the world are the standards good enough yet. We are hopeful that the UAE will take lead by example with the current review of its regulations,” he added.

 

Commenting on recent high profile façade fires in the region, Lynham said “Many European countries have already taken measures to ensure that combustible insulation cannot be used on the facades of buildings above a certain height and we fully support this as an approach for the UAE moving forward. Combustible insulation has no place on the façade of a super high rise building. There are excellent alternatives that tick all the boxes for thermal, acoustical and fire performance – why take the risk?”

 

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of insulation materials, Knauf Insulation offers a wide range of fire-safe insulation products for every building requirement.

 

By partnering with organisations such as Fire Safe Europe and a wide range of construction and fire safety experts and industry partners, Knauf Insulation has been supporting policy makers across countries to remedy dangerous discrepancies in fire safety regulations and ensure that fire safety codes for buildings and testing protocols for construction products are rigorous and performance based.