Drive to promote use of steel

Increasing the use of steel in construction by 10% is the aim of a five year €14M (£10M) programme launched by the International Iron and Steel Institute and 11 of its members, including Corus.

The leaders of seven of the steel companies formally signed the agreement in London in February and the first meeting of the group has since been held. Those who signed the agreement in London were Arcelor, BlueScope Steel, CELSA, Corus, Mittal Steel, POSCO, and Tata Steel. The Secretary General, Ian Christmas, signed the agreement on behalf of IISI. The four other companies participating in the programme are Erdemir, IMIDRO, Ispat Industries, and Ruukki.

The new initiative is an opt-in programme for companies active in the construction sector and IISI will continue to try and attract new programme members during 2005. The programme will enhance the competitive edge of steel companies in the construction through a range of new initiatives. These will include market research, technology benchmarking, knowledge management, an international architectural competition and demonstration building.

The programme grew out of the work done by IISI’s Steel Solutions and Sustainable Urban Development (Scoping) Project Group, which presented a proposed work plan to IISI’s Board of Directors in April 2004. The Project Group demonstrated that there are pockets of construction best practice amongst IISI members. However, no region had fully exploited the contribution steel can make to improved construction.

The first meeting of the participating companies was held from 21–25 February 2005 in Kolkata, India.