ZINC CLADDING

Martin Mccrae, lead architectural designer at Paper Igloo (paperigloo.com) shares his advice

1 IT’S AVAILABLE IN LOTS OF COLOURS Choose your zinc from a range of colours, from silver grey to plum, green, brown and even black – there is a colour available to suit every job.

2 THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT SEAM TYPES Zinc is a versatile material and the panels can be joined in several ways, which are called ‘seams’. Changing the seam will give the cladding a different appearance and create different shadows.

3 IT’S A SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL Zinc cladding can easily be fully recycled at the end of its life which helps minimise resource use, and as it requires no finishes or chemical treatments, it’s very low maintenance.

4 IT’S DURABLE Zinc can provide a lifespan for roof or wall coverings of up to 100 years; indeed many of the Parisian rooftops we love are finished with zinc, dating back generations.

5 YOU WILL NEED TO INCLUDE VENTILATION BEHIND THE CLADDING Zinc cladding for walls and roofs is usually fitted over a material such as plywood, which then has a ventilation gap behind it, so this needs to be considered at the design stage.