Metal Construction Association

THE METAL CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATION You’re seeing an awful lot more complementary design - utilizing metal with brick and stone and glass and wood in the design of buildings in the last decade or so. And we’re fully supportive of that. But, there’s a way to build those type structures properly, utilizing dissimilar materials.” BVM: Do you also educate your own mem- bership? Hielscher: “Absolutely. The Metal Con- struction Association represents a number of different industry niches within metal in construction on the cladding side –we’re non-structural; we’re the walls and roofs.We have metal composite materials, we have single-skin, insulated metal panels, natural metals, and they all have their place and they all have their own unique attributes and challenges for installation and specification. And that is a major focus of ours - to make sure that we educate all the interested or involved parties on how to properly specify, design, and build with these materials.” BVM: You mentioned education as a major function of the Association. Is advocacy also a focus? Hielscher: “Absolutely, it is. If you go on our website to our technical bulletins and white papers – those are fully-vetted, both profes- sionally and legally, for them to be accurate, and we try our best to stay away from market- ing in those papers.” BVM: Do you advocate in front of legislative ings – residential and non-residential – recognized that in order to expand the use of metal in construction, in general, and cladding, in particular, they needed to market it as an industry a lot better than it had been, before. (Cladding- the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer. In construction, cladding is used to provide a degree of thermal insulation and weather resistance, and to improve the appearance of buildings.) “That was the initial focus of the Metal Construction Association, and it con- tinues to this day. The path has become more complex and expanded, and we recognize that one of the greatest points for us to emphasize is how to use metal in construction for cladding in roofs and walls most effectively– that’s cost-effectively and aesthetically - and how to install it properly. So, we spend a lot our effort in educating people on the right way to design, specify, install, and maintain metal roofs and walls on residential and non-residential buildings.” BVM: Who are these people you’re educating? Hielscher: “We start with the design architects and specifiers and also con- tractors so that they learn best practices.We help, not only when, but when not to order it, and how to utilize it in conjunction with other building ma terials.