New Potential for Mirror Finish

A multi-award winning building design is using stainless steel to reduce its visual impact. ‘Zoo Booth’ is a small free-standing kiosk at Victoria’s Healesville Sanctuary and – thanks to its mirror finished stainless cladding – is very well camouflaged! The design concept came from Melbourne company TS1 Pty Ltd, who launched Transportable Design 1 (TS1) Pop-up Buildings in 2006.

For the unique application at Healesville, ASSDA member Stainless Sections provided grade 304, 1.2 mm stainless steel sheet, polished to a No. 8 mirror finish to reflect the organic surroundings. Stainless
Sections’ Roy Carter said mirror

Ecologically Sustainable Stainless Design

With the population boom leaving less open space available for traditional garden beds, stainless steel is helping to reintroduce Mother Nature to an increasingly unnatural environment. Ecologically sustainable design (ESD) promotes the use of existing resources to maintain biological balance. This allows for natural light and ventilation, reduced energy usage, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The need for this type of specification is so apparent that the Government has established the Green Building Council of Australia (GBA) to advocate sustainable property development.

City of Melbourne was among the first to demonstrate ESD in Australia, with

purge welding to minimise heat tint

Stainless steel is frequently specified for food production, pharmaceutical, chemical and industrial applications due to its corrosion resistance and cleanability. It is vital in these sorts of applications to avoid or remove the oxide heat tint or scale that forms when weld metal is melted, because this heat tint is non-protective and provides a place for bugs to settle or for corrosion to start in certain conditions. Purge welding is particularly useful in these circumstances if no post weld cleaning is possible, e.g. inside tubes.

What is heat tint?

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Maximum impact two years on

Coloured stainless steel has helped revitalise what has become one of Victoria’s largest and most recognisable shopping precincts – Westfield Doncaster.

In late 2008 Westfield completed a major redevelopment and refurbishment of the Doncaster shopping centre (located 20 minutes east of Melbourne’s CBD), doubling the complex’s size.

Central to the centre’s new look and feel is the building’s ultra contemporary and striking cladded facade that features coloured and patterned stainless steel supplied by Steel Color Australia Pty Ltd.

Steel Color Australia owner Vince Araullo said more than 600 square metres of grade 304 stainless steel