The British Constructional Steel Association explains why the steel industry is growing at a phenomenal rate
Written by the British Constructional Steel Association (BCSA)
Steel’s market share has grown to record levels. The latest independent market research has confirmed steel as the material of choice for architects, engineers and contractors. Last year, steel broke the record for the marketshare of multi-storey buildings with a 71.8 percent share – up by 3.7 percent. The future is challenging: the global credit crunch is affecting overall confidence in the construction industry, but the underlying demand for steel construction remains good.
Steel construction has excellent sustainability credentials: steel is ‘multicycled’ – it may be continually recycled without loss of properties and, in the UK, 94 percent of steel is reused or recycled.
Steel structures have low carbon footprints; they are lighter than concrete frames and need less foundation construction; steel requires fewer site deliveries and is fabricated offsite in safer and healthier environments.
Steel structures can also provide long spans with both passive and active energy storage systems and only need 100mm thick concrete floors to provide the thermal mass fabric energy storage for daily temperature cycles. Most importantly, they are high quality, low defect with minimal waste.
A new joint BCSA/Corus three year market development plan has been established to communicate steel’s sustainability credentials; the programme includes:
¬ A substantial communication campaign – see www.SustainableSteel.co.uk
¬ Influencing the sustainability agenda through regulation,codes and standards
¬ New steel solutions to meet sustainability requirements
¬ Information targeted at architects and QSs
¬ An information leaflet to direct specifiers to steel information sources
The industry has made improving health and safety a top priority and, during the past year, BCSA published further new guides in its health and safety series. Accident statistics, which are monitored by BCSA, show that the reportable injury frequency rate has fallen from 1.2 to 1.0.
With increasing steel construction output it is vital that the industry maintains, refreshes and develops its skills base. Hence BCSA has launched a new training initiative to look at the wider human resource (HR) needs of the sector.
A project has recently been completed jointly with the Association for Consultancy and Engineering. Under the supervision of a steering group made up of representatives from all sectors of the industry, the project produced guidance on design requirements in structural steelwork projects. Accurate, timely and comprehensive information, especially design information, is relevant to all parties involved in a construction project and the construction industry needs to do better in order to reduce wastage, continue to be competitive and to deliver improving services to clients. The identification of design requirements early is the easiest way to avoid late variations, which are always expensive. Steelwork in particular is a manufacturing process: this increases the cost of changes once steel has left the factory. The new guidance document has been referenced in the latest version of the National Structural Steelwork Specification.
Over the next few years there will be a gradual introduction of the European systems for the design, fabrication and erection of steel structures. BCSA is continuing to lobby government for the retention of national standards beyond 2010. Meetings have been held with Ministers and the BCSA is confident that national standards will be retained alongside the Eurocodes up to 2015.
CE Marking of fabricated structural steelwork will be introduced in late 2008/early 2009. BCSA has issued comprehensive guidance on this, including information on the scope of the European standard, the content of a Factory Production Control system and details of the four different methods for CE Marking. The issue of traceability has been resolved and companies will not be required to have full traceability of the CE Marking but are advised to adopt the traceability requirements given in the forthcoming European standard for fabrication and erection, BS EN 1090-2.”