A recent metal roof installation is a steely blue symbol of a growing bank brand and an increasingly popular metal roofing style.

The Navy Federal Credit Union has opened an average of 20 new branches a year. Serving all branches of the U.S. armed forces, along with Department of Defense employees and military veterans, the bank had approximately 8 million customers at the end of 2018 and counting. For its newest branch in St. Marys, Georgia, the project incorporated 9,500 square feet. of .032-gauge Petersen’s Snap-Clad panels finished in Interstate Blue and 2,000 square feet of 0.32-gauge flush wall panels finished in Silver. This combination of finishes matches the bank’s signature corporate color scheme and reflects a Southern coastal design style, according to the installers.

“We’ve done several roofs for NFCU branches and used PAC-CLAD on all of them,” says John Salo, vice president of the Sewanee, Georgia-based installers Saco Systems. “We’ve developed a relationship with Petersen and with the general contractor, who has been building several of these branches over the years. There were a couple years when we did three or four of them.”

The regional influence is in the building’s hipped roof featuring broad overhangs, especially along the front elevation. Although both panel styles are available in steel, architects with Inox Design opted for aluminum for resilience against coastal salt spray.

“It was pretty typical for us, in terms of the hips and the valleys,” Salo says of the installation system. Still, he appreciates the attention to detail Petersen provides to every project. “They prepared their details and gave us a complete package of shop drawings. Petersen is very hands-on, from the moment we bid a project to the moment we clear it out.”pac-clad.com.


This story originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of SNIPS magazine.