For a coastal-based engineering business, not every steel job is structural. Some are there to be looked at.
This one sits on a hill at Te Rerenga, north of Whitianga. The brief was clear enough: screening that did a job, without looking like something bolted on afterwards. It had to sit with the house and the landscape around it. Corten steel was the answer.
Two problems, one material = Corten
The client wanted Corten steel panels in two places.
The first was screening for the garage. The second was a custom enclosure behind the sleepout to hide the bins, gas bottles and utilities, with a large sliding access door so everything stays reachable.
Corten was the right call for both. Up on a hill and fully exposed, it weathers to a stable surface layer that slows corrosion down instead of breaking apart the way mild steel does. It also does something plain steel can't, which is look better as it ages.
Putting the family crest into the Corten steel
The part that makes this one is the crest.
The family had their own crest, so we took the artwork and converted it into a laser-cutting file, then cut it straight into the Corten. It's the same process we use for custom signage and numbers, just at panel scale.
Artwork doesn't always translate cleanly into something you can cut. Fine detail can disappear, and anything fully enclosed needs holding in place. Getting it from a drawing to a cut file that still looks like the crest is most of the work.
Design sorted before anything was cut
The whole job was modelled upfront, including hidden fixing locations and post placement.
That's what gives you a clean finish. No visible fixings, no brackets showing where they shouldn't, no adjusting on site to make something line up. When the fixings are planned into the model, the panels go on and the job looks the way it was drawn.
Our team installed the panels on site. Big shout out to Dan and the crew at Urban Homes, who made the final fitment seamless.
Screening, gates and feature panels
We design, build and install this type of work across the Coromandel and Waikato, from gates and fencing through to privacy screens and one-off feature panels. If you've got something that needs hiding, or a blank wall that could be doing more, drop us a line.
📍 Location: Te Rerenga, north of Whitianga
📍 Builder: Urban Homes
📍 Materials: Corten steel, laser cut
📍 Challenge: Converting family crest into a cuttable design without losing the detail
📍 Services: Design, fabrication, installation
