Architect Sarah Bertie of designgroup architects h + k located in Whangarei first came upon Trespa Meteon by chance. She was talking through some internal acoustic panel options with the Décortech team when there was mention of a contractor over-ordering a project lot of Trespa which he was interested in on-selling. It turned out to be the perfect solution for a school toilet block she was working on at the time — and the product was able to be incorporated into the design, reducing potential waste and eliminating the lead time for the construction team.

In the years since, Sarah has specified Trespa Meteon cladding on a range of projects, creating eye-catching designs for both high-end homes and education projects. In particular she enjoys taking advantage of the cladding’s low maintenance and broad range of colours, finishes and tactile effects to meet each client’s brief. “It’s robust and low maintenance” she says. “And there’s such a broad range of finishes to work with — schools tend to go for solid, bright colours, while residential clients favour the grains, textures and steel looks.”

Here’s a look at three projects where Sarah has used Trespa Meteon to stunning effect:

Vibrant, low maintenance cladding for Ruakaka School

In 2018, Sarah had the chance to return to the first project where she’d used Trespa Meteon — Ruakaka School — this time with the task of designing a new library and multipurpose room for the Ministry of Education. Trespa Meteon was an easy choice for the project as the school had raved about the toilet block outcome, and really wanted to see the low maintenance product used again.

“School buildings are often timber weatherboard or fibre cement, so they need regular painting and maintenance, but the school found that the Trespa Meteon always looked good, it needs the occasional wash but no ongoing painting,” says Sarah.

“The principal was keen to continue with the Trespa cladding, and wanted to slowly change the colour scheme of the school to make it more vibrant,” she says. The vivid orange, yellow and green panels specified from Trespa Meteon’s Uni-Colour range bring a lively splash of colour to the school and interlink with the colours of the school’s shine values.

Importantly, the panels provided the high performance and low maintenance the school and Ministry of Education were after. “In a school environment, that robustness and low maintenance is really key,” says Sarah. “And the top vented cavity complies with the Ministry’s weathertightness requirements.”

A timber and steel aesthetic for a high-end home

On a recent residential project, Sarah was able to take advantage of Trespa Meteon’s Wood Decor range. Located amidst native bush, this family home was built into the treetops. The three-storey design enabled Sarah to make the most of the site with minimal disruption to the surrounding vegetation. Low maintenance cladding was crucial to making sure the home would look good over time and wouldn’t create hours of work for the homeowner — a tricky ask when the clients wanted a timber look, which comes with inherent maintenance.

Sarah turned to Trespa Meteon’s Wood Decor and Naturals range for an alternative to timber and corten steel cladding. “We clad the entire house in Trespa Meteon in two different finishes,” she says. “We used a timber grain panel, and a corten steel texture, lining the soffits to the second floor level in order to achieve a continuous form, which helps to blend the home in with the native surroundings.”

This achieved the natural look the client was after while minimising future maintenance. “Trespa was the best choice to help the client in the long term and ensure the home holds up to the environment,” says Sarah.

A stunning mixed-cladding coastal home

Trespa Meteon is ideal for creating eye-catching mixed cladding designs such as on Canal House, another high-end residential project where Sarah specified plaster, cedar and Trespa Meteon cladding. “The Trespa colour chosen — Nordic Black — has dark graining and contrasts nicely with the light-coloured plaster,” says Sarah.

Once again, the stunning visual effect created was backed by Trespa’s trusted weathertightness, low maintenance and durability — perfect for the home’s windy and marine environment on Marsden Cove waterways.