A wide variety of cladding products have entered the market, like high-pressure laminates (HPL), metal cladding and clay façade tiles. In fact, clay façade tiles are particularly preferred for their longevity and thermal and sound insulation properties. Also, roofing solutions that offer a complete watertight solution are a popular new concept and products like shingles and designer metal roofs are trending. “In the domestic segment, the customer’s preference is moving towards clay roof tiles with new contemporary design, colours and finishes,” adds Muthu Kumaran, Associate General Manager - Sales, Wienerberger India. “The concept of an open roof is also catching up.” For Dinesh Vyas, Senior Vice-President - Marketing, H&R Johnson, durability and functionality play an equally important role as aesthetics. “I do not see any other substitute cheaper and faster than cement sheets and GI sheets,” he says. Going greenToday, green building is the buzzword—and roofing is no exception with a host of solar solutions available.“With almost 50 per cent of heat intake through roofs, it’s extremely critical to integrate green building components in roof design,” affirms Mitu Mathur, Director, Gian P Mathur and Associates. And aesthetics need not be overlooked either! Mathur tells us how solar roofs can be used to create semi-open interactive spaces. “In addition, with higher grade concrete available and possibility of better quality steel structures, we have started proposing longer structural spans and innovative roof designs,” she adds. For his part, Vyas says, “The neglected areas of the roof, particularly in urban areas, can be used for vegetable cultivation (roof top gardening) and energy conservation.” Traditional concrete slabs absorb a lot of solar energy, making the room below hotter. H & R Johnson has come up with the cool roof technology, where special glazes are used during the manufacturing process, thus giving the tiles a high solar reflectance index (SRI). “Over 78 per cent qualifies for an SRI,” he says. “It reduces the temperature in the area below the roof and terrace, thus reducing the need for cooling through appliances, and making it eco-friedly.”A green feature of a building starts with the properties of its raw material. The product should be recyclable, lead-free and energy-efficient. “Our roofing solutions offer all these three virtues that make it environment-friendly,” says Ajay Rattan, General Manager-Sales, Construction & Engineering, Tata BlueScope Steel (Lysaght Business). A lot of work has happened in the solar sector, especially around ground mounted solar power generating units. Adds Rattan, “Supporting the renewable energy cause, our profiles are compatible with solar solutions that further contribute in reducing the carbon footprints. Our team of design engineers are actively working with ground mounted solar power generating units to optimise the steel consumption by using latest and innovative raw materials.”About a decade back, the weight of the structure used to be about 100 tonne per MW, “but today,” says Rattan, “our engineering team is able to design a structure as low as almost 27 tonne per MW. There is tremendous reduction in the weight of the structure. This is a result of replacing traditional raw material with superior light-weight steel sections such as ILIOS from Tata BlueScope Steel. These modules are not only sleeker but durable, with great capacity for weight optimisation.”Adding further about the roofing solutions, he says, “LYSAGHT profiles made from high strength COLORBOND and ZINCALUME steel offer thermal-efficiency due to THERMATECH technology incorporated in its raw material.”- DIKSHA JAWLE