The companies that made and installed the exterior panels on The Address Downtown Dubai hotel say that most of the towers built in the city prior to 2012 used non-fire-rated exterior cladding. The disclosure comes as investigators probe the causes of the spectacular blaze that was beamed across millions of TV screens worldwide on New Year’s Eve. The fire has again shone the spotlight on aluminium composite panels which have been used to cover high rise buildings countrywide and have been linked to several highrise fires in the UAE and overseas. Officials at the company that made the composite panels used on the tower as well as the company that installed them say that most of the buildings constructed during the city’s property boom years did not use fire-rated panels.
(Source: The National, February 11, 2016)