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Ripple Retreat, for young cancer patients and their families in Scotland
Zinc: the natural choice
Jonathan Lowy of VMZinc tracks how zinc has played a key role in iconic buildings from Paris’ monuments to modern campuses and healthcare facilities – and how this durable and highly recyclable material is now culturally recognised by UNESCO.
Z
inc is used on a very wide range of buildings. If you watched the 2024 Paris Olympics, you may have admired how many Parisian monuments were used as backdrops for many of the sporting venues. This automatically means that zinc roofs and ornaments were featured as part of these backdrops, whether it be the quays by the Seine river and grand boulevards of Paris, or the many zinc ornaments in the city, for example on the Grand Palais. Many of the reasons for choosing zinc on these buildings in the 19th century are still relevant today, such as availability of the metal, the technical advantages of the roofi ng systems, and the attractive aesthetic of the material. Education and healthcare infrastructure
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generally requires buildings to be extremely durable while not requiring excessive maintenance. The BRE gives a service life for zinc roofs and walls of 100 years, and in the vast majority of cases no more maintenance is required other than clearing out gutters and the occasional inspection. Looking back to 2010 when the Computer Science Building at the University of York was completed, BDP architects combined glazing, timber and pre-weathered zinc in three fi nishes using a rainscreen panel system. At about the same time Austin Smith Lord architects were restoring and extending Liverpool Central Library, a Grade II listed building that opened in 1879. After 132 years the original zinc roof on the Picton reading room was
ADF MAY 2025
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