The suburb of Noordhoek, Cape Town is renowned for its green areas, proximity to the Table Mountain National Park and for its 4 km long wild and windswept beach, stretching across to the neighbouring suburb of Kommetjie in the south. All in all a very salt-laden and sometimes damp environment. The ability to use or coated steel in these environments is one of the benefits of coated metal roofing.

It is here that a recently completed private home demonstrates the versatility of Safal Steel’s legendary aluminium/zinc (AZ) coated steel roofing technology and the prowess of the brand.

The House on Village Lane is situated off a leafy lane, popular with hikers, bicycle riders and horse riders close to the heartbeat of Noordhoek, the Farm Village complex.

Sustainability and architectural style are watchwords in Noordhoek, where a number of leading green building architects and technologists reside out of choice in deference to their surroundings. The community is very active in recycling and boasts a high usage of renewable energy as seen from numerous rooftops in the neighbourhood. Sustainability is therefore high on the agenda and reflects in the design and execution of this unique property.

1. Steel is malleable and formable into a myriad of different shapes, profiles and contours. It is an architect’s dream material.

2. Steel roofing and cladding can be prepared offsite and delivered ready-to-install onsite, or it can be formed into various roofing profiles onsite saving time and money. The project manager’s dream.

3. Lightweight and supporting low carbon-footprint design. Even in the most aggressive climates, AZ steel features a low thermal mass is low, allowing heat to easily be drawn out of a building in summer – meaning cooler nighttime temperatures.

4. Steel is the most recycled and most recyclable material on earth. With a global recovery rate averaging above 83%, steel is one of the most sustainable and environmentally important building materials made.

5. AZ coated steel roofing as licenced under the BIEC International Inc.licencing system and offers superior protection against adverse climatic conditions and is the choice of building professionals worldwide. Even in the most aggressive environments – a solution is available for the designer.

6. AZ coated steel roofing provides a life in service of at least for times that of the heavier less environmentally beneficial galvanised steel roofing.

7. Colourplus, the pre-painted AZ steel from Safal Steel offers a wide range of attractive and durable colours owing to our bespoke paint system.

Aluminium/Zinc coated steel roofing, especially that which is made in South Africa by Safal Steel is increasingly being specified onto multi-unit residential housing projects, for the reasons given above.

However, it’s more bespoke applications catch the imagination of designers worldwide.

For example:

The Village Lane Noordhoek owner decided to roof their home using Colorplus(R) AZ150 (TCT 0.53) in colour Seaspray , which was formed into Newlok™ profile, is a concealed fix, standing seam profile with an effective cover width of 445mm, and a rib height of 50.8mm by Safintra Roofing, South Africa.

In addition to all the benefits described above, the selection of AZ150 pre-painted coated steel provides exceptional architectural/design perfomance.

1. Colorplus® AZ150 is particularly indicated for use from a distance of 1 – 40 km or more from the seas splash zone. The Village Lane House is 2km from the sea as the crow flies and represents a wise and cost-efficient decision by the specifier.

2. The specified Colorplus® AZ150 colour, Seaspray, is an excellent cool roofing choice. The amount of incoming solar radiation that bounces off a solid surface instead of being absorbed (and heating the house) is termed its solar reflectance index (SRI). In the case of the very light colour Seaspray, this index is 78, meaning that over 65% of inbound solar heat simply does not enter the roof space and simply reflects.

3. Mounted PV panels. Safal Steel issues detailed guidelines as to how this may be done and the product is an ideal backdrop for such panels, providing a number of different contours and options from which water may drain and avoiding corrosion and the buildup of dirt.

Safal Steel is a licenced user of the highly respected 55% Aluminium, 43.5% Zinc and 1.5% Silicon coated steel technology from BIEC International Inc. The company is the first and only licensed producer of this patented coating alloy in Southern Africa, which is used to manufacture the highest quality metallic and pre-painted coated steel used in roofing, cladding, and many other structural applications

Safal Steel warrants its Zincal® and Colorplus® (colour coated steel) to have a service life (prior to perforation by weathering in the natural elements) from date of installation. Warranty periods are determined by Safal Steel and may vary according to project design and location. A Provisional Warranty may be applied for at project design stage; this warranty serves as a guideline as to the final warranty Safal Steel may issue on project completion. A Final Warranty application form may be submitted to Safal Steel by the roll former on project completion, requesting Safal Steel to issue a warranty for the specific material used on a specific project.

Look for the trademark. All Safal Steel prime material is branded on the backing coat – insist on Safal Steel material.

Products used for roofing: Safintra Newlok™ in Safal Steel’s Colorplus® Seaspray – 0.53mm

Roofing formed by: Safintra