Commercial Metal Wall Cladding in Sydney

Cladding is half of our name, and on commercial, industrial and government buildings it is often half of the job. Austek supplies and installs metal and translucent wall cladding across Sydney and NSW, usually alongside the roof, which is where the two systems either work together or leak at the join.

Two recent envelope jobs show the scale: 600 m² of Interlock 305 wall panels plus monument walls on a Gregory Hills commercial development, and 1,200 m² of Danpalon wall system on a Bossley Park government building. This page covers the profile choices, the materials, the fire question, and the junctions that decide whether a metal wall performs.

What is metal wall cladding?

Metal wall cladding is the external skin of a building made from steel or aluminium sheet or panels, fixed over a subframe of girts or battens to the structure. It keeps weather out, carries the building’s appearance, and on commercial work it has to do both for decades with very little maintenance. On industrial buildings it is often the same sheet as the roof run vertically; on commercial and public buildings it is more often a dedicated wall panel chosen for its lines.

Profile families, compared

Brand names change. These are the families a specifier is choosing between.

Cover widths, spans and fixing details for any named system come from the manufacturer’s current published literature for the exact product specified, so confirm the product first and take the figures from its data, not from a similar-sounding panel.

Materials

• Colorbond steel. Pre-painted steel in a wide colour range, the default for most commercial walls. Coating class should match the environment.
• Zincalume steel. Unpainted metallic-coated steel. Common on industrial walls where appearance is secondary.
• Aluminium. Lighter and more resistant to marine corrosion, and used for some architectural panel systems.
• Polycarbonate multi-wall. For translucent wall systems such as Danpalon, where daylight is the point.

Mixing metals at junctions and fixings needs care. Incompatible metals in contact, or runoff from one onto another, cause corrosion that starts where nobody looks.

Fire performance: a question for your certifier

External wall cladding on many building classes is subject to fire-performance requirements in the National Construction Code. In NSW, NCC 2022 still applies until 1 May 2027: NCC 2025 was released on 1 May 2026 and has been adopted in Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT, but not yet in NSW. The provisions sit in Part C2 of NCC Volume One:

• C2D10, non-combustible building elements. In Type A or Type B construction, external walls, including the facade covering, framing and insulation, must be non-combustible.
• C2D11, fire hazard properties.
• C2D12, performance of external walls in fire.
• C1V3, the verification route for external walls, which uses testing to AS 5113 and an EW classification.

NCC 2025 keeps the same numbering and adds C2D15 for bonded laminated cladding panels. Which requirements apply to your building depends on its class, its type of construction and the whole wall build-up, not just the outer sheet.

That is a decision for the project certifier or the specifier, made before the cladding is ordered. Bring the confirmed wall specification to the quote, and if it is not settled, settle it first. We will not price a cladding system as a substitute for one that has been specified without that question going back to the certifier.

Where the cladding meets the roof

Most cladding leaks are not in the middle of a wall. They are at the edges: where the wall meets the roof, the ground, a window, a corner, or another material.

• Roof-to-wall junctions. Flashings have to shed water from the roof past the top of the wall, and accommodate both systems moving. On a combined job one team detailing both sides of the junction removes the argument about whose flashing it is.
• Base of wall. Clear of ground and paving, with a flashing that lets water out of the cavity rather than trapping it.
• Openings. Head, sill and jamb flashings around windows, doors and roller shutters, coordinated with the window installer.
• Corners and changes of plane. Where interlocking panels show any misalignment first.
• Penetrations. Services, signage and lighting fixed through the cladding need a sealed, flashed detail.

The roof side of that junction is covered on our commercial roofing and industrial roofing pages, and our guide to choosing a roofing system for a commercial building covers the roof decision.

Two envelope jobs, roof and wall together

Gregory Hills, commercial, 2019. A new Speed Deck roof (3,200 m²) and Interlock 305 wall cladding (600 m²), plus monument wall construction, delivered on a four-week programme. The challenge was three external systems going on at once while keeping junctions, interfaces and visual lines precise. The roof and wall works were sequenced so each could progress without holding the other up, and the transition between the roof profile and the wall panels was treated as the critical detail it was.

Bossley Park, government, 2022. A 3,000 m² Speed Deck roof with monument roof elements, and 1,200 m² of Danpalon wall system for durable enclosure with controlled light transmission, delivered in six weeks. Government work meant strict safety and quality requirements, and the weather performance of the building depended on precise detailing between the roof and the translucent walls.

In both, the cladding and the roof were one package. That is how we would recommend procuring it on any commercial building where the two meet.

Specification checklist

Before you ask for a cladding price, have these settled or at least on the table:

1. Building class and type of construction, and the certifier’s position on the external wall build-up.
2. The cladding system and profile, or the look and performance you need if it is open.
3. Material, coating class and colour, chosen for the site’s exposure.
4. Subframe: girt or batten type and spacing, and who engineers it.
5. Insulation, sarking and cavity details behind the cladding.
6. Junction details: roof-to-wall, base, openings, corners.
7. Whether roof and wall are being procured together.
8. Access for installation: scaffold, elevated work platforms, site constraints.
9. For a re-clad: what is coming off, and what the existing subframe is like.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between wall cladding and a roof sheet?

Sometimes nothing: corrugated and trapezoidal sheet are used on both. Dedicated wall panels such as interlocking systems are designed for vertical use and appearance and are not roof sheets.

Which metal cladding profile suits a commercial building?

It depends on the look, the wall size, the exposure and the budget. Interlocking or concealed-fix panels give the cleanest lines; ribbed and corrugated sheet are more economical on large plain walls.

Is metal wall cladding compliant with fire requirements?

That depends on the building and the whole wall build-up, not on metal alone. The project certifier or specifier confirms what applies under the National Construction Code.

Can roof and wall cladding be done by the same contractor?

Yes, and on both jobs on this page they were. It puts the roof-to-wall junction under one team.

Do you install translucent wall systems?

Yes. Bossley Park used 1,200 m² of Danpalon wall system.

Can you repair or replace existing wall cladding?

Yes. Damaged panels, failed flashings and corroded sections are repairs and maintenance work; a full re-clad starts with a look at the subframe behind it.

Send us your elevations

Send the elevations and sections, the cladding system if it is specified, and whether the roof is part of the package. We will come back with the questions that matter for your building and a price you can compare.

Austek has been working on Sydney commercial, industrial and government buildings since 2010. Send us your elevations or call 0411 922 441.