PRESS RELEASE: Queensland University of Technology and Lynx Systems test bushfire resistant cladding

Scientists have warned for decades that bushfires will continue to get hotter, more widespread, and more destructive in years to come. The 2019-20 bushfire season destroyed over 9,000 buildings across 24,000,000 acres in many parts of Australia, ushering in a new age of megafires that will continue to ravage the country.

Lynx Systems are proud to announce that its double steel skin façade cladding system will be used in a new project that has commenced in conjunction with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which will be assessing the effectiveness of a protective shutter system to protect rural homes and structures from bushfires.

Anthony Ariyanayagam, Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering at Queensland University of Technology oversees the MPhil research funded by QUT’s Centre for Materials Science (QCMS) as part of the Linkage Spark Scheme 2021/22. The MPhil research student will conduct bushfire testing on various materials for different bushfire exposures to create a robust protective solution for buildings in bushfire-prone regions.

The original design of Lynx Systems’ double steel skin façade cladding system was influenced by a horrific urban fire event in 2017 in which London’s Grenfell Tower burned down, taking the lives of 72 of its residents and injuring 74.

Following this event, Lynx Systems made it an important mission to provide a robust, non-combustible vented façade system that could also integrate solar photovoltaics technology for the Australian and UK market.

Lynx Systems’ CEO, Gordon Geddes has a close connection to the efforts of firefighting, having worked as a firefighter alongside his father who received the Queen’s Service Medal for forest protection, including firefighting methods.

Gordon said, “We are excited to assist QUT with this encouraging project. Bushfires are destructive for people losing their homes, pets, valuables, and of course their lives. Firefighters are put under so much pressure during these events as they volunteer to put their lives on the line to save others.

“If there’s anything we can do to increase the stability of structures to inhibit the devastation that fires will pose, then that will hopefully create a flow-on effect in saving lives and reducing the continued devastation allowing people to evacuate sooner, and reduce the bursts of energy that fires gain from destroying houses and other buildings.”

While the top minds work to limit the mayhem that bushfires impose on structures, it is critical that individuals and communities continue to follow the advice of authorities in planning and preparing for bushfire scenarios, by developing a bushfire survival plan.

For more information on this project, contact:
Gordon Geddes at [email protected]
Freddie Fletcher at [email protected] or 0422 653 683