Attractive, elegant joinery—and safe, too

A building fire can be a hazardous and frightening event, causing loss of life and damage to structures. Over the years, countries such as New Zealand have developed building codes to ensure the quality and safety of commercial and residential buildings if a fire should break out.

Our building codes set out minimum requirements to safeguard the occupants of both residential and commercial buildings by prioritising the safe evacuation of people in a building and preventing the fire from spreading from inside or outside the building. Many of these codes involve construction elements that prevent or delay smoke and fire from spreading through a building and provide entrance and escape routes to enable occupants to be evacuated if needed.

New Zealand cladding and facade specialist, ACMF, has recently added a new product to its stable—Reynaers Aluminium Fire Rated Joinery from Belgium.

This fire-rated joinery product has been widely used across Europe and in Australia for many years, and recently ACMF has been through the process to get the required BRANZ assessments to bring it into New Zealand.

Fire-rated joinery can be manufactured from timber, steel and aluminium and ACMF is the only company accredited by BRANZ to offer this product in aluminium.

A building fire can be a hazardous and frightening event, causing loss of life and damage to structures. Over the years, countries such as New Zealand have developed building codes to ensure the quality and safety of commercial and residential buildings if a fire should break out.

Our building codes set out minimum requirements to safeguard the occupants of both residential and commercial buildings by prioritising the safe evacuation of people in a building and preventing the fire from spreading from inside or outside the building. Many of these codes involve construction elements that prevent or delay smoke and fire from spreading through a building and provide entrance and escape routes to enable occupants to be evacuated if needed.

New Zealand cladding and facade specialist, ACMF, has recently added a new product to its stable—Reynaers Aluminium Fire Rated Joinery from Belgium.

This fire-rated joinery product has been widely used across Europe and in Australia for many years, and recently ACMF has been through the process to get the required BRANZ assessments to bring it into New Zealand.

Fire-rated joinery can be manufactured from timber, steel and aluminium and ACMF is the only company accredited by BRANZ to offer this product in aluminium.

Department Head for ACMF Marius Koen says that aluminium is the material of choice for door and window joinery when it comes to aesthetics and design freedom.

“Aluminium is clean, light and elegant, especially compared to steel, which is rougher and heavy in appearance. There’s also much greater choice in style, shape, dimension, colours and accessories.

“And, if a building only needs specific windows or doors to be fire-rated, for example, on a boundary wall, or where it is particularly close to other facilities, then an architect can specify our fire-rated aluminium joinery alongside non-fire-rated aluminium joinery, and there will be no visual difference—and a significant cost saving. The alternative is to have steel for the fire-rated joinery and a different finish on the rest of the joinery—a much less elegant option.

“We are increasingly seeing this joinery being specified for high-density housing projects to provide fire protection where homes are being built close to boundaries and other houses,” says Marius.

“Whether it’s for a residential or commercial project, this joinery gives architects and designers the freedom and opportunity to create the look and style they want to maintain the integrity of their design—and still meet the building codes, both for the exterior and interior of their building.”

Marius says it is particularly important that architects and fire engineers work together and specify this system early in the design before obtaining building consent. ACMF can provide technical support and assistance with relevant fixing details to facilitate the design phase.

The Reynaers fire-rated aluminium joinery is manufactured to achieve the 30- or 60-minute fireproofing time spans required under NZ building codes. Special cooling materials are induced into the profile chambers, together with the use of self-adhesive and water-resistant swelling gaskets.

Because the fire-rated joinery is made from aluminium, it has all the advantages of aluminium, including being corrosion resistant and lightweight, ensuring quicker construction times on site. Additionally, it is around 30 per cent cheaper than steel, which makes it more cost-effective. Lead times are shorter than many other materials because ACMF carries large stocks of product locally and the joinery system is quick to assemble.

The joinery for each project is made to order. While there are maximum sizes for windows, shapes and profiles are flexible and doors and windows can be produced in any powder-coated colour or anodised finish. The company also supplies flashings and fixing materials as well as a range of accessories such as door and window handles, automatic closers and locks.

Aluminium has the additional advantage of being an almost lifelong, maintenance-free material. Its durability and UV-resistant coating make these joinery systems easy to look after.

These contemporary aluminium profiles have an excellent thermal performance, thanks to the systems' thermal break and airtightness. When combined with high-insulating systems and airtight joinery installation, energy consumption is reduced, ensuring optimal living comfort with a minimum of heating costs. Internal condensation is not an issue with this product.

Reynaers offers a 10-year guarantee that its systems meet the highest technical specifications and standards. This covers the aluminium profiles, epoxy power coated or anodisation layer, as well as the insulation. On the accessories, there’s a five-year system guarantee.

Learn more about fire-rated aluminium joinery systems for your next commercial or residential project.