YEARS

OF TRUST & EXCELLENCE

Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012
 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

Editor’s
Note
I ndia is witnessing a sea change in architectural
transformation. With rapid urbanisation and
contemporary trends, Indian buildings are becoming
aesthetically brilliant and more sustainable. As a
harbinger of change through our product basket we, at
Aludecor, have witnessed the CHANGES of TWO
DECADES.

While celebrating our two decades long journey of

bringing Architectural products, we humbly present an
array of application of new age building materials in
our efforts at beautifying India.

Across India, numerous Commercial Centres, Special

Economic Zones, IT Parks, Malls, Airports, Railway
Stations, Educational Institutes, Office Complexes or
even Residential Complexes are being beautified by
innovative ACP applications. The Signage Industry too
has gone through a facelift with the advent of ACPs.

This 20th Year Special Issue of Adorner will be an ode

to all the craftsmen, architects, designers and all the
other stakeholders who have been bringing about
these changes and continue to create dramatic
architectural transformations.

Team Aludecor celebrates the journey of BRAVE BOLD

ARCHITECHTURAL DISRUPTION.
 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

Message from the

CMD’s Desk
I t’s been wonderful to witness the growth of the
Metal Panel Industry from such a close distance. In
the last two decades, the demand for Aluminium
Composite Panel has risen considerably. All the
organisations who have been a part of the journey,
undoubtedly contributed enough to take this Industry
to newer heights. When I look back, I clearly remember
how I got fascinated with this product while I was in
China. As the whole world was going for a
‘transformation for the millennium’, we became a
catalyst in bringing the transformation into the
architectural world. We brought a one-of-its-kind
product that was the need of the hour.

Bringing such a product was not only difficult, the

bigger challenge lay in creating the necessary
awareness. However, I feel extremely proud to note
that through the years a lot many fabricators have
joined the bandwagon. Infact, this industry today has
become a major source of livelihood for many.

Compared to the West and some of the Central and

East Asian Countries, the industry in India is still at a
nascent stage. We at Aludecor too have ‘Miles to Go’...,
but I can emphatically state that our dedicated
journey in the last two decades is just the beginning
of our dream run to becoming the most disruptive
Architectural Product creator.

Ashok Kumar Bhaiya

CMD
 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

A Brief History
O
1
wing to the extraordinary properties of ACP its
invention was to meet special requirements of Germany
the industries it was developed for. The initial
production of the material was to meet the needs of

9
the transportation industry. Soon it was realized that
most of the features of the panels were useful for
architectural projects. Slowly manufacturers started
using cutting-edge technologies and equipment for

6
faster development.

Early researchers laid the

foundation for the application

9
ALUCOBOND Manufacturing Unit
of these panels in today’s
It was after significant research that they
construction industry. could confirm the production process of
Although the discovery of using aluminium and low-density polyethylene
composite panels. It was a decade later in
ACP in construction material was 1969 when a German company officially
finalized only in the 1980s, launched and created ALUCOBOND, a
brand to produce these materials for
research reveals that the further projects. Alucobond® was the first
production of such material brand and it was much later that other
brands such as Reynobond, Alpolic, and
dates back to the 1960s. Etalbond came into existence.

19 2
The development of ACP panels can A big milestone for the material was
be traced back to the 1960s in when it reached China in the 1990s.

60
Switzerland. Swiss researchers The production growth took a

0
came up with the idea of combining considerable leap from then. The
Aluminium alloy panels with other material was utilized extensively
types of substances. from there on, for production

0
technologies, and application fields.

Switzerland Towards the 2000s the versatile

material gained worldwide attention.

0
China
 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

ACP Industry
Gets Structured
Initially, the composition of ACP remained the same
although it might have been marketed under various
brand names.

Europe is also the continent that

devised the rules for the Europe
certification process along with
revision for the construction of
facade products and installation
procedures.
Since aluminium composite panels are different from
the traditional cladding materials, most governments
make these tests mandatory along with a full range of
applications technical manuals, including raw material
specifications, manufacturing, and overall
performance.

Nowadays, ACPS are

available to fit various
functions for which they The incident that shook the
are developed using world prompting the
different types of coatings
such as polyester (PE),
development of
fluorocarbon (PVDF), flame-retardant ACP’s
FEVE resin, etc.
In one accident, the
flammable core material
2000

In 2000 National Building Materials led to a fire in a high-rise

Industry Aluminum-plastic Composites building. It was then that
Product Quality Supervision and Testing the development of
Centre” was established. flame-retardant and
non-combustible core
materials happened.
2002

This was followed by the China Building

Materials Industry Association Aluminium
Plastic Composites Branch in 2002 and
“Aluminium-plastic composite board for The Grenfell Towers, London
printing technical books on the material.
 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

ACPs Become a Rage

in the Middle East
Inspiring Architects Across
the World and India

View of Sheikh Zayed Road

skyscrapers in Dubai at sunset. The
typical glass and ACP buildings that
have inspired architects to do the
same in India.

The ACP Journey

in Indian Architecture
E
conomic Liberation in the 90’s brought fresh new
opportunities for many sectors in India. A lot of
foreign products and services came into
existence and generated opportunities. Indian
1998 Gopal Das Bhawan
situated in Barakhamba
Road, Connaught Place,
New Delhi became the first building to be the
Architecture Industry saw a drastic shift in innovative face of contemporary architecture having a
buildings and infrastructure. The Indian skyline began façade. It was the first Indian Building to use
to find a whole new makeover. façade made with ACP & Glass.

Gopal Das Bhawan, Connaught Place, New Delhi

 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

2002 Aludecor forays into

the ACP business 2004
begining with import led Aludecor starts manufacturing
operations, in order to bring ACPs indigenously at Haridwar,
new-age materials to the Indian Uttarakhand, becoming one of
Market, and also to cater to the the first players to manufacture
growing matching global ACPs in India.
demand.
I was in China where I first saw these facades & got
fascinated. Further, I got to know about Aluminium
Composite Panel & it clicked me that these materials
could get a place in India. We were at the dawn of a
new millennium, this was undoubtedly the Product
for the new millennium.

Mr Ashok Kumar Bhaiya

CMD

When Indian cities began to grow at a rapid pace post

economic liberalization, a lot of architects from Dubai
and Singapore ventured into projects in India. That
probably was the catalyst in the boom of ACP
buildings in the metros. Most of the new millennium
architecture in India is inspired by two cities: The first
being Dubai and the other Singapore. It’s important to
note that Dubai has probably the highest
concentration of ACP use in the world, for a city of its
size. The next 5 years saw ACP clad buildings popping out
at every street corner. By 2005, commercial buildings
and IT parks had only one look across cities. They were
masses built of glass and ACP. As the demand
increased, new players joined in.

Every company that made construction materials now

sold ACP too in various colours and textures. ACP was
never supposed to be a cheap substitute for other
existing external finishes, but it turned out to be
exactly that, in absence of proper safety and quality
guidelines.

Architects were loaded with work. Here was a material

that looked like a quick fix for everything. The builders
were happy too. Cities like Mumbai and Bangalore lost
their visual identity at a rapid pace. Bad copies of
designs used in the South East Asia and Dubai were
rampant.

Aludecor Creates Awareness in
Choosing the Right Material
Aludecor started creating the
right awareness by educating
Fabricators, Architects,
Contractors and even
Architecture Students. Being a
Thought Leader, it has been a
continuous endeavour to create
awareness about choosing right
material that would blend
aesthetics and sustainability.
ACP Fire Hazards & Fire Safety
One thing that was consistently overlooked in the
initial years of ACP usage was safety. Even the
developed economies had few safety standards that
could test and accommodate an entirely new concept
of building material like the ACP. As a result, when
defects were noticed, it was too late. In India, the
defects came to light because of some major
disasters, the latest and the most prominent ones
being:
AMRI Fire Tragedy – Kolkata
Another fire disaster, made worse on account of
having taken place in a hospital, occurred at the AMRI
Hospital at Dhakuria in South Kolkata at 3 am on
9 December 2011. A short-circuit in the basement of
the building resulted in inflammable substances
catching fire which spread through the hospital at a
very rapid rate. The central AC system carried the
smoke all through the building, causing asphyxiation
and 95 people including members of the staff died as
a result. While the fire broke out at 3 am, the
fire tenderswere called for only at 4 am and by
the time they arrived it was 5 am. Meanwhile,
local youth succeeded in saving many lives. The
rescue operation by the fire brigade was
further hampered due to lack of a blueprint of
the building plan.
Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012
Indian Construction & Building Materials industry
started realising the advantage of having façades.
ACP remains one of the most innovative, researched
and improved construction material of our times.
Strict quality controls in the developed nations and a
conscious approach towards material applications in
the west have resulted in many European and
American manufacturers to innovate. Some of the
benefits of using high-quality ACP can be
summarised as below:
Flatness & Formability Lightweight Weather Recyclability
Visual Resistant
Consistency
Stephen Court Fire Tragedy – Kolkata
A fire broke out in the historical building,
Stephen Court, in Park Street, on March 23,
2010. It killed at least 42 people. Apart from the
fire brigade taking 80 minutes to reach the
spot, there were no proper fire escapes, and
the exit from the roof was also blocked with the
gate to the terrace locked. The people on
higher floors perished for they were trapped with no
way out. To add to the woes, the sky lifts, which were
supposed to be used for the rescue operation, had
been stored far away in Behala and Salt Lake, and
took one-and-a-half hours to reach the site resulting
in more deaths. The building was old and proper
maintenance had also not been done.
The Srirangam Marriage Hall Fire Tragedy – Tamil
Nadu
This fire disaster occurred on January 23, 2004 in the
Padmapriya Marriage Hall in Srirangam. A
short-circuit in the electric wire connecting the video
camera resulted in the thatched roof catching fire,
resulting in the death of 57 people attending the
wedding, including the groom. Temporary power lines
to the unauthorised makeshift thatch were the major
reasons for the fire.
 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

Aludecor being one of the Iconic Examples of Modern

pioneers in safety, started Architecture with
addressing the fire safety issue ACP Cladding in India.
well in advance in the industry.

2012
India’s first indigenously
made FR ACP was
launched

BSEL, Mumbai, Maharashtra

CIL Corporate Office, Kolkata, Wet Bengal

Westin, Pune, Maharashtra

 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

2002 ONWARDS
Aludecor Gains Visibility

Project Name: Logix

Place: Delhi

Project Name: Pentagon

Place: Pune, Maharashtra
 Special Edition
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
2002
PART 1 2012

The Journey Picks Up Pace

Aludecor Continues to Add Value to the
Indian Architectural Landscape

Project Name: Akash Tower

Place: Kolkata, West Bengal

Project Name: Landmark

Place: Ahmedabad, Gujrat

Look Out
for THE ADORNER
Special Edition
2013
PART 2 2022
COMMEMORATING
TWO DECADES
OF ALUDECOR
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