WINDOWS | MEMBER PROFILE
30
A SPOTLIGHT ON SAFETY
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS WITH IAN
BENNIE AND ASSOCIATES
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For Ian Bennie, CEO of Ian Bennie and Associates – Building and Facade Testing Services,
‘safety first’ is a sacred principle. Ian reflects on some key insights gained from 40 years of
industry experience, including 30 years running his own company.
I
an began his career at CSIRO, conducting research on
weatherproofing high-rise buildings. He graduated in
Applied Physics at RMIT and in 1987, established Ian
Bennie and Associates (later being joined by half the
CSIRO team in 1989). “We worked exclusively in high-rise
façades, testing for weatherproofing and strength,” Ian
remembers. “This was during Melbourne’s first high-
rise boom, which lasted until the mid-1990s when a
construction glut was followed by a market downturn.”
Luckily, other opportunities beckoned for the newly
established company. “Although our local high-rise work
ground to a halt, overseas markets picked up rapidly,”
Ian notes. “Many Asian clients, particularly from Thailand
and Malaysia, visited Australia and brought their façade
systems to our laboratory for testing.”
From the beginning, Ian Bennie and Associates carried
out detailed diagnostic work. “We would build a weather
chamber onsite (a two or three-storey box enclosing
the building’s external face), in which we would simulate
storms,” he explains. “Using water sprays and air
blowers, we tested for structural weaknesses and water
penetration. If you’ve got a leaking 60-storey building,
you need to throw some real muscle at the problem!”
The situation changed again in the mid to late 1990s,
when increasingly stringent regulations were introduced
in Australia. “The revised 1999 Building Code brought in
30 Summer 2017
window testing standards, a decisive shift which marked
the beginning of our extensive involvement with the
domestic and residential window industry,” Ian recalls.
“As many building inspectors were unaware of the
alterations to the Code, the Australian Window
Association spent significant time educating them on
performance expectations. Increasingly, consumers
would no longer accept potentially unsafe or non-
compliant products. Manufacturers were subsequently
required to validate performance claims, which created
a level playing field for manufacturers and gave buyers
certainty.”
Ian has long been recognised for his efforts to improve
quality, safety and efficiency. “In 2007, I was one of the
‘gang of five’ Australians who went to Washington D.C.
to train at the National Fenestration Rating Council
(NFRC),” he explains. “While there, we learned how to
energy-rate windows to NFRC conditions.
“On our return, we established the Technical Committee
of the Australian Fenestration Rating Council (AFRC)
and set down the national energy rating processes now
used by the Window Energy Rating Scheme (WERS).
Until then, we had been using local Australian conditions
and methodology; from that point onward, we began
following the international standard.”