St. Francis de Sales Church

The red-brick Gothic-revival style church occupies a prominent position in Devonport village. Although built of sturdy materials in 1918, the somewhat hostile marine environment had taken a toll on the brickwork and corrugated iron roof. Phillip Hartley, Building Conservation Surveyor from Salmond Reed Architects Ltd, Devonport, was contracted to design and projectmanage the repairs and maintenance.

Retaining or utilising original materials where possible would ensure that new materials would easily blend with the old, but the task was made a little more difficult because of compatibility issues between some of the old and new products.

The problem of sourcing a suitable roofing product that would not react adversely with the lead was solved by a bespoke ColorCote® 8000+ series paint system applied to both sides of a galvanised steel substrate to provide even greater protection against salt-laden air. The colour selected, Pioneer Red, also matched the previous roof, as well as blending with the older buildings in the Devonport conservation area.

Getting the 10.5 metre-long roofing panels into place and onto a very steep 55-degree pitch, more than six metres above the ground, also proved to be a challenge. Metro Roofing removed the old iron and erected the new roof in stages, so as not to expose the building too much to the weather. They could only erect scaffolding as far as the guttering, and then the three-man roofing team had to man-handle the new panels up the steep slope. As they went, the Metro team also installed insulation and applied borer treatment to any affected timber rafters and purlins.

“The final result looks great and should last for many years to come,” added Rob Anderson.

• Substrate: AlumiGard
• Colour: Pioneer Red
• Location: Devonport, Auckland
• Environment: Severe marine
• Installation: Metro Roofing, Auckland Rollformers Roofing Industries, Auckland & Palmerston North