One of Western Australia's most successful regional developer builders has proved again that modern steel cladding is equally at home in a heritage setting.

One of Western Australia's most successful regional developer builders has proved again that modern steel cladding is equally at home in a heritage setting.

Karl Plunkett's Shiba Lane development in Broome's Chinatown precinct has been a commercial success for his company, Eco Constructions, as well as the Kimberley gateway city's first three storey building.

Eco Constructions built 20 luxury two bedroom apartments and eight commercial suites to create the Shiba Lane complex to a design by award winning designers, Paul Meschiati & Associates.

Broome's Chinatown is at the heart of local history and subject to extensive city council restrictions on new structures built among the original corrugated iron huts of its pearling past.

"In the Chinatown precinct LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile is the only material approved for external cladding," Karl Plunkett said. "It can only be applied horizontally and it can only be white. The building highlights can only be red, green and black."

"CUSTOM ORB® cladding is fantastic for this region. It is a strong, lightweight material and the colour options are huge where there are no heritage restrictions. I'd call it the material of the North."

Karl Plunkett has backed that judgment with the development of several residential and commercial projects in Western Australia's north.

His company specialises in providing sustainable living systems and work places suited to tropical living. The design of his Eco Beach resort on Roebuck Bay will continue the trend when it opens this year.

John Rimington, whose company, Just Roofing, carried out the wall and roof cladding on the Shiba Lane project is not surprised it has turned out to be a commercial success, with some apartments re-sold for nearly A$1 million.

John has 20 years experience providing roofing and cladding throughout the Kimberley and his knowledge of the region's construction challenges is highly valued.

"The same project built elsewhere would have been much easier to clad," he said. "Just the same it was worth the effort.

"Part of the challenge was that because this was Broome's first three storey building there were no suitable cranes available. Buildings up here have to be bulletproof because of the cyclone risk, so the structure used steel portals and steel framing. We used 0.42mm BMT LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile in the COLORBOND® steel colour Surfmist® to clad the walls and roof.

"Extensive scaffolding was required for work platforms, but the bundles of sheets were light enough to be lifted into position with a telehandler."

Custom flashings which contribute significantly to the building's overall impact were fabricated in Just Roofing's sheetmetal workshop.

Just Roofing provides its services from its base in Broome to as far afield as Derby, Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing and has recently completed ten houses in Tom Price.

The company has the skills to tackle commercial and residential work and has extensive in-house sheetmetal capabilities.

"I've tried others but there's no better brand than LYSAGHT®," John Rimington said. "The arrangements put in place by BlueScope Lysaght have made it very easy to deal with them, despite our distance from Perth. We know we can rely on them to deliver what we need when we need it."