The lasting impression that any visitor to the UAE recalls are the skyscrapers and dynamic architecture that grace the skylines of our cities. But for some residents, one enduring image is that of smoke, fire and flames creeping up a building — and the displaced tower residents have to start again without most of their worldly possessions.

The New Years’ Eve fire at the Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai showed that side to viewers around the world, while the recent fire in Ajman again highlighted the speed at which fires can spread. Since 2012, a dozen high-rise fires have forced the evacuation of families after flames raced across the facades of buildings made of flammable aluminium cladding and containing petroleum-based materials. All levels of government in the UAE are aware of these dangers and are working hard to ensure that this issue is resolved quickly to ensure that no one is put at risk. It’s estimated that more than a thousand buildings are wrapped in dangerous cladding.

A new strict fire code is being finalised and will be unveiled by mid-May. This will be an important step in putting an end to the dangers of cladding and new buildings will be required to have flame-resistant materials in their construction.

But the onus should not just be on officials who are faced with the daunting task of trying to regulate and monitor completed and under-construction buildings. As Major-General Rashid Al Matroushi, the Director of Dubai Civil Defence, pointed out on the sidelines of a Fire Safety Technology Forum, builders and contractors have a role to play as well.

Inferior building materials are readily available for contractors to use. Doing so means that any structure, no matter how well engineered and regulated for on paper, becomes a fire risk. If a shoddier, cheaper and less fire-resistant or flame-retardant material increases the profit margin for those who actually are contracted to carry out the construction, then that is the material of choice.

Using poor-quality material means fire regulations are neutered while the lives of people who then live in those buildings are put in jeopardy.

This issue is not going to go away, regardless of what measures are included in the new fire-safety code. Building inspectors must ensure contractors are using proper material. All dangerous material needs to be removed from the marketplace and banned at point of import or manufacture.