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ColorCote® Case Study 12 - The re-roofing of the Historic St Francis de Sales Church in Devonport presented challenges that required the close collaboration of all concerned.

Mixing modern materials with historic architecture can be a recipe for renovation disaster, but the recent re-roof and facelift of the Catholic church of St Francis de Sales in Devonport shows what can be achieved when architects, trades people and suppliers work closely together.

The red-brick Gothic-revival style church occupies a prominent position on the slopes of Mt Victoria at the entrance to Devonport village. Although built of sturdy materials in 1918, the somewhat hostile marine environment of the seaside suburb had taken a toll on the brickwork and corrugated iron roof - itself a replacement shipped out from England for the original tiled roof more than 50 years earlier.

Phillip Hartley, Building Conservation Surveyor from Salmond Reed Architects Ltd, Devonport, was contracted to design and project-manage the repairs and maintenance.

“When you are dealing with repairs to an historic building, you are obviously faced with challenges and issues in regard to the repair methods to be used and in the selection of appropriate materials to successfully combine the old technology with the new,” said Mr Hartley.

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, as explained by Rob Anderson, of Metro Roofing, the main contractor on the site.

“It wasn’t a case of taking off the old iron and replacing it with a new metal roof – we had issues matching the new roof with existing lead flashings, which were still in good condition and were to be retained,” he said. “To remove and replace the existing flashings would have added significantly to the costs.”

Phillip Hartley added that another reason for retaining the lead flashings and parts of the original roofing structure was to preserve the surviving details of the earlier tiled roof slopes – physical evidence that is important to the collective history if the building.

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.

St Francis de Sales Church Photo Gallery