John Holland uses solid aluminium sheets in AutoHaus project to substitute aluminium composite cladding

Builder John Holland has ended an issue over aluminium cladding on its $100 million AutoHaus Newstead project in Brisbane by using a solid aluminium sheet that avoids flammability.

AutoHaus project was getting delayed by a disagreement between its cladding fabricator and supplier over the fire testing of the specified Vitracore G2 cladding. The builder opted for a different aluminium product to avoid questions about fire safety.

"As this is still under way, the project team has chosen a product which is undeniably non-combustible – solid aluminium sheets. The solid aluminium product will give our customer the same quality of finish and can be delivered in time to meet the project schedule." The bulder however, has not confirmed on the timeline for the project.

The decision temporarily settled the dispute that threatened the five-storey project.  The highest-profile dispute pitted fabricator Aclad against supplier Fairview Architectural and which could arise at other projects in the state.

Aclad said it had concerns about Vitracore G2's fire safety and wanted the CSIRO to independently test the product. Fairview insisted on their own fire safety tests, refused to allow its product to be tested and the public CSIRO said it could not test the panel without the supplier's permission.

"Fairview respects John Holland's decision to switch to an alternative non-combustible product from Fairview, Vitradual, which is a 3mm, core-coated solid aluminium cladding panel," a spokesman said.

"Although heavier than aluminium composite panels, Vitradual cladding has comparable aesthetic and performance attributes for prestige projects".

Aclad said it was happy John Holland had settled on a product that was safe to use on this project though the concern over the refusal of independent testing continues to remain.