Novelis CEO Philip Martens highlights its safe and fire rated architectural products

Novelis president and CEO Philip Martens recently spoke to Construction Weekly about the role of polyethylene ‘sandwich’ panels in the recent spate of building fires. He highlighted on the architectural products manufactured by Novelis and their safety features. Extracts from the interview:

For more than ten years, our European architectural team has delivered Novelis aluminum for building and architectural projects in the Middle East, taking part in construction exhibitions such as Dubai’s Big 5 and Project Qatar. In addition, we have equipped various building landmarks in the region with our painted and anodised façade materials.

Novelis supplies solid rolled and surface finished aluminum sheet for roofing, façade and building applications, such as interior decoration and ceilings. Well-known brand products, like our anodising brands J57S and J73A or our ff2 pre-painted material, stand out with excellent flatness, ideal permissible load, optimum UV and corrosion resistance, all while achieving excellent colour and gloss uniformity.

All Novelis architectural products are non-combustible and fire rated A1 according to international standards. Novelis sheet is 100% recyclable, produced in environment-friendly production processes and designed for long-lasting, sustainable architecture.

Novelis façade sheets are certified for use on high-rise buildings, with the added benefit of full coverage by international insurance companies. New innovative surfaces like stone design, textured design and coloured anodised finishes extend the range of products.

Novelis surface pre-painted aluminium is produced by the environment-friendly coil-coating process. All paints and lubricants produced are processed in a closed material cycle. When stoving the lacquer, 100% of the extracted solvents are combusted and fed back into the process.

The pigments used in the paints are non-hazardous. Novelis aluminium is ground-water neutral and can be recycled as a raw material without any loss of quality.

The severe fire accidents, mostly caused by combustible metal composite materials, in the Middle East during the past months and years has lead to a focus on non-combustible materials for façades and interior building applications. All Novelis aluminum architectural products are certified as non-combustible with a rating of A1.

Novelis materials are applicable for all construction. Novelis’ strong relationship with Middle East local distribution partners, investors, consultants and construction companies is a sustainable base for its business success in the region.

He stressed the point that there is a strong trend towards sustainable and green buildings, especially at construction summits and conferences.