Featured recently in the Channel 4 programme Grand Designs, SIG Zinc & Copper have supplied the cladding for the Amphibious House in Buckinghamshire. This is an innovative ‘floating’ house, the first of its kind in the UK, which has used NedZink NOVA cladding to cover the roof and walls.
What is the Amphibious House?
The project is a private house which has been built on the banks of the Thames at Marlow in Buckinghamshire. Grand Designs follows clients Andy and Nicki Bruce and their architects Baca Architects through the build process.
The house is ‘amphibious’ in that for much of its life its sits on the ground in the normal way, but if there is flooding it is able to gently rise with the floodwater, settling back again when the floodwater recedes.
There has been a huge amount of interest in the Amphibious House, which has featured on the BBC Culture Show and in national newspapers.
Benefits of Zinc Roofing and Cladding
The house, which is relatively conventional in shape with a pitched roof, is clad on two sides and the roof with unusual diamond shaped zinc shingles.
The shingles are made with NedZink NOVA, a titanium zinc product that has a beautiful pre-weathered grey finish. The zinc was supplied by SIG Zinc and Copper and was cut to size in the UK.
Titanium zinc offers many benefits including:
- Aesthetically very pleasing, especially over time
- Naturally resistance to corrosion
- Excellent long-life durability
- Minimal maintenance
- Flexible and malleable – easily fabricated into standing seam or roll cap roofing sheets as well as shingles
- At least 95% recyclable; the original metal can be re-used without losing its properties
- Can integrate easily with PV panels
- Versatility in design for most roofing applications from private residences to commercial and public buildings
Amphibious House Zinc Shingles
Using the Zinc supplied by SIG Zinc and Copper, the shingles were manufactured and installed by Kingsley Specialist Roofing, part of the Kingsley Group based in West Sussex. Kingsley is a member of FTMRC, the Federation of Traditional Metal Roofing Contractors, who represent the leading UK specialists in metal roofing design and installation.
The shingles are typically fixed to softwood boarding or plywood using fixing clips, and installing them is a skilled business.
Typical Installation on Ventilated Plywood:
- NedZink NOVA Shingles
- Breather Membrane
- 18mm WBP Plywood
- Timber Batten
- Breather Membrane
- Insulation
- Vapour Control Layer
- Fixing Clip
More Information
SIG Design & Technology takes the risk out of roof design, offering a genuinely independent choice of waterproofing for flat, green, zinc and copper roofs. Designs are covered by our PI insurance and we’re part of SIG plc, a FTSE250 company. Our blog at www.singleply.co.uk/blog explores some of your common problems in roof design and system choice, or book our new RIBA CPD, ‘A Structured Approach to Roof Specification & Design’ and ‘Specifying Hard Metals: Choosing the Right Product for the Project’.
