Hot Dip Galvanized Steel for School Shade from Galvanizers Association

St. Michaels, Baulkham Hills

Australian Hot Dip Galvanized Steel not left in the shade

Hot dip galvanized steel has long been a staple building material for schoolsand educational facilities. Its use has recently been increased due to thegovernment's Education Revolution upgrade program and galvanize willfeature case studies in the future to show designers the versatility of thisproven material.

Australian Shadola are an Australian company specializing in the provisionof shade structures and weather canopies and a significant part of their workinvolves educational facilities. All of their structures are engineered andstructurally certified, including wind ratings above 130 km/h.

Australian Shadola's structures need to meet both the aesthetic and durabilityrequirements of educational facilities. Their flexibility in construction and useis also important. Shadola specializes in modular design so that work may bedone in stages as both needs and finances dictate.

The fact that steelwork is in schools means it has to be robust enough toundergo the sort of punishment that schoolchildren can mete out, but alsohave minimal maintenance costs as education funding is always at apremium and subject to many competing needs.

David Scrivens, Manager of Australian Shadola, insists that all of his steel isafter fabrication hot dip galvanized and he relies on its durability, reliabilityand quality to provide him with an Australian-made premium product. Also,importantly for structures designed to protect children from the sun, hot dipgalvanizing is itself immune to the effects of the sun and UV. Zinc doesn'tonly work in sunscreen to protect the human body from the sun - it alsoprotects steel!

"It gives you confidence to be able to give a warranty," says David. "Wegalvanize every job we do after fabrication."Hot dip galvanized steel also has the advantage of a long history of use inschools, is easy to handle, is robust enough to handle transportation and isable to be erected under most climatic and site conditions. "Some of our jobsinvolve larger steel components and quantities compared to most in ourindustry as we use RHS members, not C and Z purlins." Hot dip galvanizingallows David to meet his specific requirements of quality and durability. "Byusing RHS our product is very robust."

As the Education Revolution and the development of schools gets into fullswing, the need to provide Australian children with facilities that protectthem from the sun and the elements is of utmost importance. Thanks to thelikes of Australian Shadola, local hot dip galvanized steel will be increasinglyused to provide a safe, low maintenance and robust structural material.Hot dip galvanized steel may provide much-needed shade, but as thetoughest and most economical material of choice in educational facilities, itneed not stay there!

Acknowledgements
David Scrivens - Manager, Australian Shadola

Manly Selective College