'The increasing use of ventilated façades systems is the new trend,' says Vinay Kumar, Managing Director, Citadel Building System

The market for roofing, façades and cladding is increasing with the increase in construction activity in the real estate, infrastructure and industrial sectors. 'The solutions for roofing, façades and cladding is continuing to evolve with new-age materials being introduced by various companies; and architects and clients willing to try and experiment with them for their projects,' says <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vinay Kumar, Managing Director, Citadel Building System. </span>He shares more on the company's offerings...<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">What are the factors resulting in customisations of roofs?</span><br /> Roofing materials currently comprise of pre-painted galvalume sheets for the industrial segments, however, polycarbonate sheets, aluminium standing seams systems, tensile fabrics, are among the new materials for residential and commercial and infrastructure projects - most of the projects have customised designs and the new materials have the inherent flexibility to be able to translate the vision of the architects into reality by allowing various shapes and forms.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tell us about your offerings in the roofing segment.</span><br /> Currently, Citadel's solutions for the roofing segments include: Polycarbonate roofing; openable louvered roofs for all year round use of open spaces - material options are pre-painted galvalume and aluminium; retractable roofs in polycarbonate and glass options to allow for almost complete openings of the space; retractable roofs in fabric material; and aluminium standing seam systems for large infrastructure projects. <br /> For all these products, we provide complete design supply and build services. For some of the products like the polycarbonate and the openable louvered products we have indigenous sourcing and/or manufacture while for the retractable roofs and the aluminium standing seam systems we have tie-up with international companies as their representative in India.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tell us about recent innovations infaçade systems, along with your offerings in this direction.</span><br /> Glass continues to remain as the major façade material given its aesthetic appeal, and ACP panels have also innovated over the years with several different finishes apart from the standard plain and metallic colours. Today, one has wood finish ACP, textured ACP, among other options.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">The new trend is the increasing use of ventilated façade systems. </span><br /> A new range of materials have emerged for use as ventilated façades. <br /> Citadel, as a one-stop-shop for façade solutions, offers: Clay terracotta tiles; sintered ceramic tiles; fibre cement board; UV fibre cement boards; aluminium expanded metal mesh; perforated aluminium mesh; high pressure laminate; aluminium profile cladding in wooden and plain look; and WPC cladding.<br /> <br /> All these are ventilated façade systems with different looks and a wide pricing range to suit different budgets. We interact with a large number of architects and clients to suggest appropriate façade material as per their look, feel and budget.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">What type of projects do you see contributing most to the roofing and cladding segment?</span><br /> Institutional, infrastructure and commercial buildings are the mainstay of the larger demands for the roofing and cladding segment. Citadel is essentially dealing in the new-age materials for the roofing and façade segments. With an increase in the acceptance of the same by architects and end-clients, the growth for the company has been good and we continue to expect a robust growth in the <br /> next few years.<br />