Need to abide by building rules stressed

Dubai Municipality yesterday advised construction consultants, contractors, engineering offices and developers to abide by existing guidelines, especially those on non-flammable materials in buildings.

Khalid Mohammad Saleh, director of the Buildings Department at Dubai Municipality, said the existing rules ban the use of flammable material in buildings. The use of any systems that could weaken the materials used for buildings’ resistance to fire, which include insulation materials such as rock wool, polystyrene, and bitumen, is also banned.

The building code only allows materials that have a level of fire retardancy detailed in the Civil Defence’s UAE Fire and Life Safety Code as well as the NPFA5000 (The National Fire Association-US).

Saleh added that cladding should resist a fire for no less than three hours in buildings and two hours in villas. He added that rules detail the responsibilities of all parties such as consultants and contractors.