This month's talk was about Rainscreen Walls, presented by David Meer.  David managed to open our eyes to the wide range of rainscreen walls used in tall buildings and the number of variations used in the design, fixing, construction and finishing. He also addressed the issues of Building Regulations and Design Approvals and the need both for interpretation and confirmation on site, as subtle changes are always required to make the panels fit.

David then went on to talk about the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. This made us realise it was not a case of one single mistake but a whole multitude of mistakes or errors of judgement that led to the catastrophe. Saving money may have been a fundamental objective,  but ensuring profitability of sub contractors works would have been formidable issues.

David’s talk made us understand the issues better, but reminded us all that full professionalism and integrity are essential if we are to avoid  similar problems in future.

Rainscreen wall feature image - Source and licence