The CustomFlow C90

The challenge was to develop a building product that is Australia-made and both aesthetically pleasing and functional. Current timber frame building construction leaves gaps in the building portfolio at the corners and the roof ridges where capping pieces need to be installed. This makes the building prone to ember attack during bushfires and facilitates air flow which reduces energy performance. The aim was to develop a new building product that enhances fire and energy performance while at the same time facilitating new solutions for low cost and sustainable building manufacture.

FormFlow's C90 is a sharp bend across corrugated iron. It allows a single sheet wrapped around a corner or over a roof or ridge peak to form a simple, clean, gap free joint. This creates a mechanical connection between wall or roof segments so the corrugated sheeting can function as a structural element rather than just a cladding material. The C90 reduces internal framing and opens new, efficient ways to fabricate and assemble building products. It is airtight and eliminates ember penetration while providing an attractive and aesthetically pleasing alternative to the current method for finishing wall to wall corners.

Based on the C90, FormFlow has developed new building systems that address housing affordability and provide shelter for disadvantaged and marginalised groups by making building construction more efficient, faster and at lower cost. The C90 transforms corrugated iron, a product ubiquitous in Australia, into a structural and aesthetically pleasing building element that enables the development of innovative new building solutions. It delivers a sustainable competitive advantage to Australian companies that can be leveraged internationally. Environmentally, it eliminates gaps in the external envelop of buildings to improve thermal efficiency, decrease environmental impact and reduce the threat of ember attack during bushfires.

FormFlow' s vision is to make high quality universal living spaces affordable and to provide shelter and rapid disaster relief for those affected by the recent bushfire and flood events in Australia and world-wide. This requires new and functional building solutions to simplify and speed-up building construction while at the same time reducing costs and enhancing building quality via new streamlined technologies for prefabrication. The C90 is such a product. While it can be produced simply and at low-cost it transforms a cladding sheet into a high-performance structural building product that has the potential to change the way buildings are made in the future. The superior function of the C90 is only matched by its beauty providing an aesthetically pleasing seamless connection at building corners that gives the impression of a continuous material flow. This enables the design of high quality/low-cost domestic building solutions that people are proud to own and live in. The C90 has presented the corner stone for new technologies including a novel structural panel concept, a new corrugated steel deck for a two way action concrete flooring system and a modular/pre-manufactured building system which uses an automated manufacturing approach to reduce material usage, costs and waste.