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For architects and designers the construction and renovation of hospitals, health centres, doctors’ surgeries and nursing homes are always challenging. On the one hand the objective is to increase ...

In 2019 the NCC introduced management clauses to help combat problems associated with condensation in buildings for the first time. In NCC 2022 more measures were included. In this blog we take a ...

The façade is one of the most recognisable elements of a building and it plays a critical role as the first line of defence against environmental factors that could affect the structure.

Sustainability in the construction industry involves more than just energy efficiency, emissions reduction, recycling and waste management. This is because sustainability is not only about the ...

In 2022 members of the Siniat technical team traveled to the United States to test the Siniat range of seismic ceiling designs on a sophisticated shake table at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering ...

The seismic design of buildings primarily focuses on protecting occupants in the event of an earthquake, but it also has a few important sustainable benefits.

Up to 90% of bathroom complaints relate to waterproofing and leakages. Shower areas are notorious for causing problems, and they require special attention to prevent water and moisture from oozing ...

According to the National Construction Code, building materials used as internal linings need to comply with set fire hazard properties.

Nobody likes living with ghosts, but they are not so bad when they are invisible. In terms of built structures ghosting refers to those dark and often unexplainable streaks and patches on walls, ...

The 'Siniat Guide to Indoor Mould' is back! In this whitepaper we take an in-depth look at indoor mould. What causes it? What can be done about it? When is the situation serious enough to warrant ...

Professional plasterers agree that joint tape is an important component of a full plasterboard setting system. The tape strengthens and reinforces joints and helps to prevent cracking along the joint ...

The installation of plasterboard seems like a simple and straightforward process but as always, the devil is in the detail. It’s important to choose the right fasteners for the job to ensure the ...

Let’s face it: Most property owners don’t give plasterboard a second thought after installation, unless a problem occurs. We diligently perform termite inspections, annually inspect air-conditioning ...

Australians love spending time outdoors and the alfresco area has become almost standard in most modern homes.

Curved surfaces in interior spaces are making a comeback, but not all architects and builders are keen to incorporate curved surfaces because there is a perception that they can be costly and ...

It’s everybody’s worst nightmare – a fire raging through your apartment block, with no room to escape.

In 2018, AS 5216:2018, the Australian Standard for the “Design of post-installed and cast-in fastenings in concrete” was introduced. The current version of the National Construction Code (NCC), ...

If you’re an architect designing educational facilities, you’ll know that reducing noise, both the background noise and the reverberation noise, is a key issue in the design of lecture halls and ...

Passive House design is gaining popularity in Australia, but is building an airtight dwelling in some of our humid coastal areas not looking for a mould problem down the line?

When doctors in Wuhan, China (where COVID-19 first emerged), studied 138 early cases, they concluded that 41 per cent of patients had most likely contracted the disease in the hospital. 1 This is not ...

There are various ways in which plasterboard can get wet. It may be due to direct contact with water, such as flooding or a leak, or condensation forming on the surface of the plasterboard.

More than 3,000 properties were destroyed in the 2019-2020 bushfire season, and 33 people have lost their lives. Unfortunately, BOM has just declared an El Niño climate pattern for the 2023-2024 ...

Passive House is gaining popularity in Australia as a design principle that can offer healthy, comfortable, low energy and resilient buildings.

Dry, hot weather can lead to a variety of concerns, including higher energy bills and devastating bushfires. It can also lead to cracks appearing in built structures, sometimes overnight.

Office designers have a tough task on their hands: Employees demand privacy and confidentiality, but designers have to optimise the amount of space to their disposal – a consideration that favours ...

Siniat SELECT (formerly known as K-SPEC) has been developed in-house by our team of technical specialists, making it easy for you to specify our wall and ceiling systems for your next project. As an ...

1. It’s been around for more than a century

The National Construction Code (NCC) includes mandatory regulations relating to condensation management. Several changes were introduced in 2019, and more were added in NCC2022.

Restaurateurs are increasingly feeling the pressure to be “Insta-worthy”, but with all the focus on visual design elements, the importance of good acoustics is often forgotten.

Open-plan, collaborative learning spaces are on the rise in Australian schools, and while this design trend has advantages for students’ social development and teamwork, open-plan classrooms tend to ...

Nobody enjoys a trip to the hospital. It is associated with stress, illness and pain and being in an alien place away from the familiar comforts of home. When it comes to hospital visits, there is an ...

Reverberation Time In an enclosed space, sound gets reflected many times from hard and smooth surfaces to create reverberation. In other words, the sound persists long after its source ceased ...

Café and restaurant designers face a difficult challenge when designing café interiors: how to create buzz and ambience, while still letting people hear each other speak. Here are the key acoustic ...

If you’re about to open or makeover a coffee shop, café or casual restaurant, what are the café design trends and ideas to be aware of? Here, we unveil six of the trends from those in the know.

Remember Florence Nightingale? The Lady with the Lamp?

One of the most common questions we get asked is “how can one system have two different Fire Resistance Levels (FRLs) and what does each one mean?” For example a wall system can have -/90/90 and ...

Sound impacts our wellbeing, our health and even our mood. Sound also affects our performance and our ability to concentrate. Sound is pretty powerful, so powerful in fact that engineering students ...

Have you ever stood still in a rainforest to listen to the beautiful silence? Sometimes the only the sound you will hear will be the silent hush of the trees above or the occasional chirping of a ...

When you're working on a construction project, whether it's a large commercial build or a home renovation, there are multiple products and services that have to be pulled together to ensure a ...

After some of Australia’s most extreme weather conditions in the far north east of the country, many people are still in recovery mode with severe damage to many properties. Unfortunately, ...

With so many of Australia's regions affected by hot and humid weather, especially during the summer months, it's likely that we’ve all experienced problems with mould around the home at some point or ...

Once the interior plasterboard walls are installed, your construction project is really starting to take shape, with just the finishing touch needed – painting.

When new plasterboard interiors are installed, how they’re coated for the first time will have a major impact in determining the quality of the finished job.

How to beat the heat and overcome the challenges of jointing plasterboard in extreme summer temperatures During the long, hot summer months, and especially in the northern regions of Australia, the ...

During the longer days of the summer months, the impact of glancing light becomes more apparent when home owners get to see their beautiful interiors bathed in the natural light of our summer ...

Acoustic design is one of those often ignored aspects or architecture – and it shouldn’t be. As Master of Sound Julian Treasure says: