A recent project at 8 Exhibition Street, Melbourne is yet another example of how the versatile MondoClad facade system from HVG Facades is addressing the compliance, functional and aesthetic objectives of recladding projects. Recladding with the NCC compliant MondoClad delivers multiple benefits and aligns with offsite construction principles.
With more than 3,400 buildings identified with combustible cladding, the accumulated financial costs of non-compliant cladding extend well beyond rectification works. Owners of residential and commercial buildings that don’t replace their cladding have to deal with higher owners’ corporation fees, rising insurance premiums, legal fees, correction of sprinkler defects, and potential loss of property value.
A recent state-wide audit by a Victorian government taskforce found that of the 2227 buildings inspected, 1069 had combustible cladding – these included 72 at extreme risk, 409 at high risk, 388 at moderate risk and 200 at low risk.
In response to the crisis, the Victorian Government is contributing $600 million towards the cost of rectifying some higher-risk apartments, while the New South Wales government is providing interest-free loans to help owners in an estimated 225 buildings.
For the recladding project at 8 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, HVG Facades’ MondoClad facade system was selected by Sam Goldburg of Casello, a Melbourne-based building services company that specialises in facade cladding. The decision to use MondoClad to replace the combustible cladding on the building was straightforward, as it is ideally suited to pre-finishing offsite and also embodies positive features for sustainable construction and the circular economy.
“They’re delivered as pre-painted 3mm solid aluminium flat sheets, and we use our CNC machines offsite to route, cut and fold those panels into pre-designed shapes. When they’re still in the factory, we further apply all the framing, stiffening and angles we need to facilitate mechanical fixing onsite,” Goldburg explained.
HVG Facades’ MondoClad facade system is well suited to covering large surface areas and particularly ideal for building facades where colour is used to create bold statements. It is prefinished with a durable PVDF architectural paint system that allows the sheets to be pre-folded offsite without loss of finish.
MondoClad is made from marine-grade aluminium, is non-combustible and certified to Australian Standard AS1530.1 and AS1530.3.
Factors such as offering a direct match to the existing cladding, the ability to manipulate the product to the desired shape offsite, and the ease of installing onsite further confirmed Goldburg’s decision to specify MondoClad.
“It’s very versatile and can be prefabricated and processed offsite and installed onsite within 24 hours, and the waterproof aspects of the MondoClad system also helped us to comply with all FP1.4 requirements.”
Specifying MondoClad was an uncomplicated decision for Casello.
“HVG Facades spent a lot of time on their literature, and gave us all required technical data and testing certificates the building surveyor requested for building permit approval. They make it easy,” Goldburg concluded.
