Armacell GRP symposium in the United Arab Emirates

Thimister (Belgium), 11 March 2013. – To present glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) sandwich panels as an economical and environment-friendly alternative to traditional building materials, Armacell and partner companies invited representatives of the Arab building and construction industry. The events at the Emirates Palace Hotel (Abu Dhabi) and Burj Al Arab Hotel (Dubai) were very well attended and architects, construction engineers and project developers were surprised by the many different fields of application for the innovative material. The conference aimed to bring together architects, engineers and developers for an active exchange of technical and practical information on how to incorporate GRP sandwich panels into architectural design and to highlight the benefits compared to traditional building materials.

The presentations were given by international representatives (from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Australia, India and Bahrain) of the three companies Armacell, Solico and BFG. All of these are experts and market leaders within their respective fields, from manufacturing foam core materials (Armacell) to engineering and design (Solico) and manufacturing and installation (BFG) of composite solutions.

Several case studies from all over the world – including Al Haramain Railway Station – were presented. Both events were attended by a large audience of industry professionals from highly reputable and well-known international architectural companies.

Dr. Karl Paetz Lauter, Managing Director Armacell International Holding GmbH states: “Composite materials and in particular GRP sandwich panels are less well-known building materials and are not yet considered as an alternative to conventional solutions using reinforced concrete or GRC. In a number of very practical case study presentations it was demonstrated that GRP solutions regularly score better in LCA studies. Very much to the surprise of the participants it was also shown that GRP solutions are often the cheaper alternative if considered early in the concept and design phase. This conference was definitely able to contribute to overcoming the prejudice that composite solutions are expensive and unsuitable.”