May 21 2009
TitanSilver, an innovative, highly durable and malleable building material from Kalzip's foldable aluminium range, was specified by architect, MPC Consultants for roofing the impressive new Warwick Lodge Dental Centre in Thorpe Bay, Essex.
T. Mann Ltd was the main building contractor with cu.tech.zn.ornamental ltd the specialist contractor responsible for installing the beautifully smooth curved roof.
Like Kalzip's Falzinc product, TitanSilver is an easy to fold, lightweight and corrosion resistant building material which can be hand-crafted into raised seam sheets, panels, flashings and trims. Extremely strong and versatile, TitanSilver is capable of accurately achieving the requirements of virtually any fully supported roof, façade and soffit application.
TitanSilver has a highly distinctive appearance with a discrete, pre-weathered, low reflective matt silver surface similar to that of brushed stainless steel. A saline-resistant aluminium alloy with a life expectancy of at least 40 years (even under the most adverse environmental conditions) TitanSilver is a robust, sustainable, recyclable and low maintenance material with a high residual value.
Roger Coombs of MPC Consultants says, "I was very keen to create a Scandinavian-inspired roofline, free of unsightly gutters and so I worked with cu.tech.zn.ornamental to help devise a system for managing heavy rainfall conditions. Our collaboration resulted in the design, testing and construction of 3 diagonal water diverters located above the balcony areas on either end of the main roof.
Whilst standard TitanSilver welts are 25mm high, these diagonal welts are 40mm high in order to channel rainfall onto the central section of the roof and on down into gutters hidden at low level. I'm delighted with the result and with the way the TitanSilver roof blends with the galvanised structural beams and contrasts nicely with the cedar cladding."
"Teamwork was vital to the success of the Warwick Lodge roof," continues Roger. "T. Mann prepared the 'cold' roof build-up on a timber substrate and did an excellent job in uniformly smooth curving the plywood base onto which cu.tech.zn.ornamental affixed an underlay before jointing and fitting the TitanSilver outer.
To avoid 'stressing' any of the TitanSilver panels on installation, they were carefully pre-curved in their workshop using a template so that each panel was accurately formed beforehand and then transported to site in 2.5 metre lengths together with all the smaller bespoke verge panels."
Warwick Lodge is a very stylish contemporary building but the versatility of TitanSilver also makes it ideal for both renovating roofs on old buildings and for new build applications where a traditional appearance is preferred by the architect or required by the local planning authority. TitanSilver is supplied to specialist approved contractors in various standard coil sizes by weight and as flat sheets in lengths of up to 3 metres and is available in thicknesses of 0.7mm or 1.0mm.