Police cite the use of banned aluminium composite cladding as main cause of Abbco Tower fire
Police cities the use of banned aluminium composite cladding as being the main cause for a blaze at a 49-storey building in Sharjah
Sharjah Police have identified the use of a banned aluminium composite cladding as being the main cause for a blaze at a 49-storey building in the Al Nahda area of Sharjah, on May 5, 2020.
According to a report in Khaleej Times, a local English-language daily newspaper, an initial report revealed that highly flammable cladding was used in the façade of the Abbco Tower, which caused the fire to spread throughout the tower within minutes.
Brig Ahmed Al Serkal, acting director of the Operation Room and Director General of the Forensic Department at Sharjah Police was quoted as saying that aluminium composite cladding, which is widely used to cover a building’s exteriors, has been banned in Sharjah since 2017, after it was found to be a primary factor in massive fires in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Similar cladding issues were detected in the fire incidents at The Address Downtown and The Torch in Dubai Marina.
Although the Abbco Tower was built before the cladding ban, the building’s owner had already been ordered to remove the aluminium panels from its façade, the report added. Following the blaze, Sharjah authorities have announced that inspections of buildings, especially those with aluminium cladding, would be ramped up.
The municipality has issued rules and ordered the owners of all the old buildings with aluminium façade to replace it,” said a senior municipal official.
A comprehensive survey of existing buildings with aluminium facades has been conducted across the city. Owners are being given a grace period to change the exteriors and replace the material, he stated. After this, the violators will have to pay hefty fines, he warned.
