Dubai The new UAE Fire and Life Safety Code may be revised to prohibit non fire-rated cladding panels on high-rise towers to reflect Dubai and Sharjah municipal flammable panel bans, Gulf News has learned.
Close inspection of the new national code Tuesday revealed that it doesn't specifically ban "non fire-rated cladding panels" and despite being introduced in July 2011, the new fire code has yet to become law pending Arabic translation.
Word of code revisions to come — possibly via a new circular to be issued to civil defence departments across the country — falls on the heels of prohibition of non fire-rated cladding by Dubai and Sharjah in April 29 documents obtained by Gulf News.
Hundreds of towers may be at risk
The action followed an exclusive Gulf News report following the Al Tayer Tower fire last month in which experts suggested hundreds of towers across the country are enclosed with dangerous non fire-rated panels made of petroleum-based plastic cores that can burn within minutes.
In an exclusive interview Tuesday, Pramod Challa, chief of engineering at Dubai Civil Defence, walked Gulf News through the extensive new national fire code that took four years to create.
Approval needed
The new code mandates that curtain walls or exterior assemblies used on high-rises must meet with Civil Defence approval.
New building designs must meet the national fire code "right from scratch", he said with Civil Defence approvals beginning from the planning stage.
However, Challa confirmed nowhere in the code is there actual legal wording or language mandating that "non fire-rated panels" are forbidden from being used on those new projects.
The code is a work in progress, he said, and has obviously not caught up with new municipal updates in recent days calling for all metal cladding panels to be fire-resistant.
More meetings are planned between fire and municipal officials to discuss the burning issue of cladding panels on buildings, he said.
'Makes sense'
"We should have a unified approach when it comes to materials by both departments," Challa said. "We will make a circular if everyone agrees that it makes sense. Let's wait to see what Dubai Municipality says."
Challa asserted that when certain materials or incidents are not covered under the new UAE national fire code, the code defaults to standards formed over the last century by US-based National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA).
Under NFPA 5000 existing regulations, "non fire-rated panels" are not mentioned or prohibited by name, but Challa pointed out that there are several provisions that refer directly to metal composite materials or MCMs.
One of the code provisions says that the MCM "shall not reduce the required fire resistance rating of the exterior wall to which the MCM are attached".
The NFPA provisions also note that MCMs should be "completely separated from the building interior by a thermal barrier…"
Ratings
Challa, meanwhile, said NFPA 285 provisions dictate that MCM assemblies used on exterior walls must be Class A rated which meet what he called "top flame spreading index" to help resist the propagation of fire on an outside wall.
The key to fire safety is that "it's about the whole assembly", or everything used to cover the building ranging from the covering, the insulation underneath, the metal studding and, of course, fire-stopping materials used to fill gaps between floors. But once again Challa confirmed even the Class A rated assemblies can contain cladding panels that are not fire-rated and are susceptible to burning once fire gets underneath the metal covering and reaches the plastic core.
Safe buildings: New steps
The Civil Defence is already taking new steps to make sure architects, owners and contractors are crystal clear as to the dangers of using non fire-rated panels on buildings.
As the Civil Defence gears up to launch its new online approvals service through e-services, it has added cladding systems to a list to be checked by contractors. Under the service heading "Construction Requirements for Highrise Buildings," the Civil Defence has noted that "cladding systems, if any, should be Civil Defence approved…."