Accountability for qualitative aluminum

SAPA by Hydro is fully prepared for this changing market and is consciously taking responsibility for high-quality aluminum products.

Roger Cremer, Country Manager Benelux of SAPA: "The Hydro Group is one of the largest aluminum suppliers in Europe. One of the brands within the Building & Construction branch is SAPA, an originally Scandinavian brand with a down-to-earth approach and four offices in the Benelux." The Benelux headquarters can be found in Landen, as can the design offices, R&D, a test center, and a 400 m² showroom.

Cremer: "We are in a changing market. At first, fire-resistant windows, doors and facades were offered by a multitude of facade manufacturers. However, the standards for these products and regulation have become increasingly stringent in recent years. Because of CE marking, the manufacturer must now have more and deeper knowledge of the product and the fire-resistant market." This also has implications for the façade builder and architect. "They have to be able to read and interpret test reports in more detail."

Importance of CE marking

According to Cremer, CE marking provides a guarantee of a quality product: "It's about saying what we do and doing what we say. Architects are rightly critical; they want the supplier's story to be true. It is important that we as a market take conscious responsibility for this."

SAPA offers a wide range of products. "They all meet today's standards. For example, when an architect designs a building, he comes across a corner where 60 minutes of fire resistance must be achieved, from inside to outside, from outside to inside, or both. With that story, he can come to our consultants, who will recommend the product that meets the requirements and has the right design."

One such product is the Avantis 70 FR. Cremer: "This is a fire-resistant aluminum window system that, among other things, meets the Dutch EW30 requirement and can be combined with burglar-resistant properties. The fire-resistant curtain wall Elegance 52 FR is surely one of our showpieces. The fact that this facade is fire-resistant is actually not visible from the outside. It contains recycled material. After all, sustainability is important to us."