Grasshopper Group of Companies (GGC), a diversified business group in Bangladesh, has brought fire-resistant glass to the local market.   

FG Glass, an Indian glass manufacturer that produces glass products using German technology, recently signed an agreement with the Bangladeshi company to supply fire-rated glass.

Fire-rated glass is specially designed to prevent the spread of flames and smoke and depending on product makeup, the transfer of radiant and conductive heat.

"Fire-resistant glass has good potential in Bangladesh as high-rise residential, commercial and industrial buildings are being erected. Fire-resistant glass can play a vital role in reducing the damage from fire incidents," said Md Mahmudur Rashid, managing director of Grasshopper Group.

In Bangladesh, the use of fire-resistant glass has already begun in a small scale.

"The glass can prevent fire from spreading for four to five hours. Hopefully, people will use it and take advantage to save valuable properties and life from accidental fires."

Rashid said when a fire erupts in a building, it gradually spreads from one floor to another if the normal glass is used in the structure.

People normally use board and wood as a partition in office rooms, which instigates fire. "If we use the fire-resistant glass, the blaze will not spread easily."           

Citing the fire incidents at Bashundhara Shopping Complex and Banani Commercial Building, Rashid said if the buildings had been built with fire-rated glass, the blazes would not have spread from one floor to another. As a result, the collateral damage would not have been higher.

GGC organised an interactive session styled "Fire-Safe Glazing For Architecture" at the Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka recently.

Rashid claimed that GGC is the first company in Bangladesh to bring this type of glass to the local market. 

GGC plans to set up a factory to produce fire-resistant glass in Bangladesh in the future.

Prof Khandaker Shabbir Ahmed, president of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh, Tariq Kachwala, a director of FG Glass, and Helmut Kugelmann, director for sales (fire resistant and security glazing) at SCHOTT, a German multinational glass company, spoke.

Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, AR Rafiq Azam, principal architect of Shatotto, Mamnoon Murshed Chowdhury, architect and partner of DWM4 Architects, Major (retd) AKM Shakil Newaz, former director for operation and maintenance at the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, and Zahir Uddin Babar, president of the Electronics Safety and Security Association of Bangladesh, also spoke.