New steel sector education and marketing initiative

BCSA has launched Steel for Life – a new market development programme designed to ensure that steel maintains and develops its leading position as the preferred supplier of framing solutions for key sectors of the market like multi-storey buildings and single storey sheds.

Steel for Life will carry on from the work of the Tata Steel-BCSA joint market development programme that has led the sector’s drive to provide information and education to the construction industry on the benefits of steel for the past five years.

Steel for Life is a wholly owned subsidiary of BCSA, with Chris Dolling leading on technical issues and Christina Gulvanessian focused on strategic marketing.

Chris said: “Steel has earned a very high market share partly because of the efforts across the supply chain over many years to ensure the quality and cost-effectiveness of the fabricated product, and to make sure that engineers and architects have everything to hand to make designing in steel as straightforward and economic as it can be. Steel for Life will develop that legacy, drawing on the resources of the whole steel supply chain.”

Christina said: “Steel for life’s key purpose will be to continue to promote the advantages that steel offers to the construction sector, highlighting the key attributes of steel which make it the preferred material in key market sectors – its cost-effectiveness, speed of construction, safety on site, durability and sustainability.”

BCSA Director General Sarah McCann Bartlett said: “This new industry-wide approach will provide significant benefits to clients, specifiers and main contractors. Technical materials and practical design tools will continue to be developed and the single steel construction information portal, www.steelconstruction.info will be regularly updated as a valuable resource to the broader construction industry.

By working together as an integrated supply chain for the delivery of steel-framed solutions, the constructional steelwork sector will continue to innovate, educate specifiers and clients, and market the significant benefits of steel in construction.

Steel for Life will be funded by sponsors from across the supply chain, including BCSA and industry members who supply related products and services.

Steel for Life will be overseen by an independent Advisory Board, made up of BCSA members and key sponsors to ensure a tailored and collaborative offering. Sponsors will be announced shortly.