COLORBOND® steel Helps Make Dream Home a Reality

Location:	Blairgowrie, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Country:	Australia
Building Designer:	RL Watts Design Pty Ltd PO Box 51 Blair Gallery VIC 3942 Ph: 03 5984 4888
Products Used:	Roofing

Family owned and operated building design company RL Watts Design Pty Ltd has chosen to use COLORBOND® steel extensively throughout their latest project, their new family home and office, with walls, roofing, guttering, downpipes, carport and fascia made from COLORBOND® steel featuring one of the new popular colours, Deep Ocean®.

Designing award winning up market residential properties in the Melbourne metropolitan area since 1978, Ray Watts who is a member of the Building Designers Association of Victoria and the Housing Industry Association (HIA), couldn't be happier with COLORBOND® steel's versatility when it comes to design.

"We chose to use COLORBOND® steel because its corrugated profile provides interesting texture and shadow patterns as well as a wide choice of colours to suit all types of building designs and locations. The flexibility of the products also allows freedom of design", says Watts.

Following a decision for a lifestyle change, Ray and Erica Watts decided to relocate to Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula. "It's a beautiful area and we are located on the narrowest part of the Peninsula a 10 minute walk to either the Bay (Port Phillip) or the ocean. The house, which also incorporates our building design business is located between two streets, which allowed the appearance and materials to differ between both facades."

For this reason, Watts decided to incorporate many different materials externally with COLORBOND® steel used as the feature element bringing a very modern approach to the building design incorporating textures and colours to complement the environment.

With a focus on sustainability, the house has been built using many passive solar design principles, including the orientation of the building, double glazed windows, wider eaves, a water tank, a solar hot water system and recycled water for the garden. The roofing and walling made with COLORBOND® steel also provides thermal efficiency.

Watts comments that "As a designer, I find that products made from COLORBOND® steel promote flexible modern building design while providing efficiency and ease of construction on site and an appealing finish appreciated by the client, winner at all stages of the building process."