With an aim to augment Fire Safety Engineering in the country, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) inaugurated “Shah Bhogilal Jethalal Laboratory for Passive Fire System Testing”, an advanced laboratory of international standards on December 03, 2022. Shri Mukesh Shah, Managing Partner in the Ahmedabad-based Shah Bhogilal Jethalal & Bros (AAAG India), who has provided generous support for the establishment of this world-class lab in memory of his grandfather and founder of the Shah Bhogilal Jethalal & Bros, inaugurated the facility along with Prof Rajat Moona, Director, IITGN.

The new lab, under the aegis of the Centre for Safety Engineering at IITGN, will have accreditation from International Standards bodies and will assist Indian manufacturers in achieving global standards in designing and manufacturing universally acceptable products, which will boost ‘Make in India’ efforts in this sector and help increase exports of such products from India. It will also assist in Research & Development and testing efforts for passive fire barriers to enhance fire safety in the country.

The state-of-the-art facility is equipped to test products like fire doors, walls, dampers, fire curtains, door hardware, horizontal through penetration firestops, and more such products of up to 3x3 metre specimen size. It will help industries develop new products and comply with different national and international building codes to ultimately enhance fire safety in high-rise buildings, airports, metro rail, and other infrastructure projects through critical testing of building elements.

The indigenous design of the lab equipment makes it cost-effective as well, which will result in the optimisation of existing product designs and costs for the benefit of customers.

Prof Rajat Moona, Director, IITGN, said, “We have witnessed massive changes in the design and usage of residential, business, or industrial spaces over the last few years, which also demands constant research and development of products that provide us protection from fire hazards. We are glad that our team, with generous support from Shri Mukeshbhai, could indigenously develop a lab of international standards at IITGN. I am confident that it will provide the much-needed assistance to Indian manufacturers in developing and testing innovative products and give a boost to ‘Made in India’ Fire Safety equipment.”

Shri Mukesh Shah, Managing Partner, Shah Bhogilal Jethalal & Bros (AAAG India), said, “We are excited to partner with IITGN to give impetus to the cause of Fire Safety through the establishment of this world-class lab facility. With the fast-changing usage of different kinds of materials in residential and industrial projects, augmenting fire safety engineering is the need of the hour to understand and be prepared for any kind of fire hazard scenarios. We are sure that this facility will help evolve products in this industry for the better safety of our society.”