Durable interior surfaces for affordable housing

6 October 2026

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Affordable housing is built for the long-term. But all too often, upfront construction costs drive decisions. It’s worth doing the numbers for whole-of-life cost on materials and construction systems, particularly those areas that will require maintenance, repair and replacement over time.

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Apartment kitchen with durable PureCoat™ panels used for cabinetry

Surfaces such as walls, benchtops and cabinetry are particularly susceptible to wear and damage. Painted plasterboard and low-cost veneered boards will need repainting, repair or outright replacement over the life of the house, often more than once.

Bates Surfaces is the coating technologists for some of the most frequently used wet-area products that go into Kāinga Ora housing. We know how UV-coated boards, such as PlyPlay™, PureCoat™ and CustomCoat, offer better wear and tear for social housing projects. And also how these products elevate the aesthetics in affordable housing, combining a low-cost board with an architectural coatings system in any colour and a variety of matte, semi and gloss finishes.

UV coatings offer a different system, one that is prefinished and proven for greater durability, efficient installation and easy replacement. Both the substrate panel and the finish can be selected for the precise purpose it’s needed – bathrooms, kitchens, entryways or cabinetry. Bates can customise products for specific projects and supply consistently, project after project.

Apartment kitchen and island with PureCoat™ cabinetry

Small apartment kitchen featuring PureCoat™ panel cabinetry

UV coatings offer a better choice from the beginning

UV-cured coatings can be applied to a range of substrates including MDF, plywood, fibre cement, HDF, hardboard and composite panels. Once cured, the panels are durable and hard-wearing, maintaining their sheen longer than traditional painted or veneer surfaces.

Coatings are applied in a controlled factory environment, providing a more consistent and harder finish than site-applied paint. The panels arrive ready to install, with no on-site finishing required.

Repairs are equally simple, because damaged panels can be removed and replaced as a unit, with replacement panels factory-finished to the same specification.

PureCoat™ white cabinetry with drawers in an apartment kitchen

Choose the panel substrate to best suit the use

When specifying panels for particular functions – wet areas, communal spaces, joinery, feature walls – designers can choose the substrate for performance and the coating for colour, finish and durability. UV-coated products offer colour matching across different substrates and panel types, opening up new design options. Fibre cement can be used on walls in a wet area, while MDF can be used for cabinetry – colour matched or colour toned to bring character and warmth to these interiors.

Architects can select a panel substrate on its own technical merits: structural performance, moisture resistance, impact resistance, cost, sustainability credentials. Then, coatings provide high-end colour and depth of finish. Quality pigments are resistant to stains and fading, and offer a much higher resistance to scratching than traditional paint systems.

Quality products and expertise from the country’s oldest coatings applicator for panels

Looked at over the whole of a home’s life, UV-coated panels offer property management benefits. They look better, last longer and are easier to maintain and repair than traditional painted surfaces. Precoated means fewer trades on site, speeding installation time frames.

Bates have been surface-coating building products since 1953, and today, have the most advanced UV coating technology in the country, providing volume, speed, coating thickness range, colour range and accreditation. They also offer expertise in logistics, with on-demand panels and some storage capacity to hold product until installation day.