The Popularity of Cladding
Unless you’re an engineer, architect, tradesman, designer or somewhat involved in the field of development and construction, you probably aren’t too familiar with the term ‘cladding’ – not to worry you aren’t the only one, but from time to time knowledge like this could come in handy for many owners of homes, businesses structures and buildings.
Cladding is the visible external finish of a building, such as roof or external walls. Wall cladding, panelling and sheets are the none-load-bearing skin or layer attached to the outside of a home or building to shed water and protect the building from the effects of weather in most cases.
It is often pre-fabricated in panels that are attached to the structural frame of the building. Wind can have a positive negative pressure on the surface of buildings and so cladding must be designed to have adequate strength and stiffness to resist this load.
What’s more is cladding is generally sort after for its use to create a controlled internal environment, protect a building from external conditions, provide privacy, prevent sound, and giving an aesthetically appealing finish. Most cladding types are durable and can last decades if the job is done well.
This is what makes cladding important and consulting an engineer to evaluate what type of cladding system needed to perform the best for your needs whether its to protect the structure from environmental reasons or restrict the amount of sound entering past the walls.
At Rickard Engineering, one of our most recent projects is the Melbourne Monash University, which is set to get a facelift with the help of our engineering team. Brookfield Multiplex (BMPX) won the contract to overhaul building B17 “Innovative Walk”. Gallery Commercial was awarded the contract to supply GRC cladding for the project.
Charles Rickard is the lead engineering designer with supply by Polysources from Guangdong, China. A key feature of the project is that the new external classing of the building will be completed before any of the existing external façade is removed. This will occur from within the building.