Armadale Arena, Perth WA

A recent reroofing project on Armadale Arena a community sport stadium in the southern suburbs of Perth, has highlighted the versatility of Fielders KingKlip®700, with 1024 square metres of the cladding being rolled and curved on-site to suit the arena’s curved roofline. 

The project was overseen by Nationwide Australia Roofing, with company Director, Phil Del Borrello, saying that although the arena’s existing roof wasn’t that old, it was being let down by its pierce fixings and various roof leaks. 

“Our company was first engaged by facility owners, City of Armadale, to undertake a roof check and provide a condition report,” Phil said. 

“The site was experiencing some water leaks and we soon identified the fixings as the main source of the problem. With pierce fixings the rubber washers can deteriorate and allow water to enter over time, then you also have potential corrosion issues with the cladding if water gets between the overlapping sheets.” 

Rather than simply refixing the roof with new fasteners, the best long-term proposition was to opt for a complete reroof. 

Fielders KingKlip®700 in COLORBOND® steel Surfmist® was identified as the best solution for the project for several important reasons. The profile’s concealed fixed design uses specially engineered fastening clips that are secured to the substructure, onto which the cladding is pushed and locked into place, eliminating the problem of the deteriorating screws. 

A second major benefit is KingKlip®700’s long spanning capabilities – for this project, the steel was rolled on site to 26.85 metre lengths, enough to provide full coverage of the curved roof in a single sheet without joins. Once rolled and cut to length and then curved on-site the 700mm wide sheets were simply bundled and craned to the roof for installation. 

“Every join on a roof has the potential to leak, so having the long spans reduces the likelihood of any water ingress issues. We were able to achieve these long lengths by rollforming and curving on site, without having to worry about transportation issues,” Phil said. 

To complete the project, Nationwide Australia Roofing had to meet a tight one-month construction schedule, during which the arena was closed to the public, it was a timeline that was comfortably achieved by the company and team of 10 professional installers who were assigned to the project. 

Along with his own team, two Fielders Technicians were also on site to operate the rollforming machine, supervised by the Fielders Production Foreman. Additionally, during the initial sheet rolling and curving process the Fielders Commercial Business Development Manager was on site to provide technical advice.   

“KingKlip®700 is a familiar product for our team, we work with it regularly, so the installation process went extremely smoothly. The cladding also complemented the roof’s Fibreglass skylights which we replaced as part of the reroofing process,” Phil said. 

“I also found Fielders to be extremely supportive. This was the first time we’d rollformed on site, so it was reassuring to have the Fielders team with us to ensure it all ran smoothly.”  

Phil said that the City of Armadale was extremely pleased with the look of the finished project and even happier at the prospect of having to undertake little to no maintenance for the life of the roof. 

“We always recommend the best solution for our clients, even if it involves us trying new processes. I have no doubt that the KingKlip®700 will perform very well in this application, it’s a cladding profile that we regularly build with and I can see us using it on many more projects in the future, while also making the most of Fielders’ on site rollforming capabilities,” he said.