Poolside composite pergola in Sedgefield.

The brief

This multi-level home steps down the Sedgefield hillside on the Garden Route, with an infinity pool and deck looking out over the town and coast. The owners wanted a pergola to shade the pool deck and turn it into a true outdoor room, one that matched the home’s modern lines and could handle the sun, salt and coastal exposure of poolside life.

The build

We built a composite pergola over the pool deck, a slatted, timber-look composite roof on a charcoal powder-coated aluminium frame, sitting above timber-look composite deck underfoot. It reads as natural wood but never needs sanding, sealing or painting, and won’t warp, rot or fade alongside the water and salt air.

The result

A poolside outdoor room that comes into its own at dusk, shades the deck through the day and frames the town and coastal views. The warm, timber-look finish stays looking new with nothing more than the occasional rinse.

Building on the Sedgefield hillside

A multi-level house stepping down a hillside doesn't hand you a flat, forgiving site. The pergola had to be set out on the pool deck itself, with the town and the coastline in view beyond it, the charcoal aluminium frame doing the structural work and the slatted composite roof riding on top.

The material choice ties it together. The roof slats are the same timber-look composite as the deck boards underfoot, so the poolside reads as one build instead of a cover added on afterwards. And with Garden Route salt air sitting over everything, composite and powder-coated aluminium were the only finishes worth specifying: neither needs sealing, and a rinse now and then keeps the lot looking new.