President’s Column: The only way is up

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone once again who attended the BCSA National Dinner in June for your continued support, with, of course, a special thanks to the sponsors of the event who were Sherwin-Williams, STRUMIS and Hempel. The feedback so far has been very positive. An extremely enjoyable evening which gives the chance to meet up with friends, colleagues and competitors alike and of course the mini opera featuring a stand-out performance by our Deputy President.

In my speech, I noted how some of our big concerns from the previous year had quietly addressed themselves or while they haven’t actually gone away perhaps seemed less critical in the light of more recent events. The Building Safety Regulator has finally got to grips with its workload and planning applications are making their way through the various gateways. In particular, a number of city centre towers are progressing to the construction stage and an increasing number of data centres have hit the structural steel market over the past year. The market may not be buoyant but there are increased grounds for optimism.

Also, the government has moved to eliminate cash retentions from the construction industry which is a move that the BCSA has championed over many years. As always, the devil will be in the detail as the legislation progresses through Parliament but on the whole, this can only be regarded as positive for our members. Unfortunately, this piece of good news has almost been missed amongst the background noise created by all that has been going on in the last few months.

The looming deadline of the 1st July for the implementation of new tariffs and quotas on steel imports has, by necessity, been at the forefront of our thinking. The BCSA, alongside other trade bodies, has been lobbying the UK government to think again and with their recent announcement it is fair to say that they have at least listened in part. However, it has not been easy to get our message through and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the efforts of all our members who have contacted their local MPs directly; other members who have made representations to the select committee on trade and in particular the BCSA staff who have worked tirelessly throughout.

The announcement included additional quota headroom on both rolled sections and tubes, which will be of benefit to the majority of BCSA members. However, at present, fabricated steel imports remain tariff-free and the review period remains at 12 months which we believe is too far away. Other countries have already acted to remove the omission of fabricated steel from their quota regimes and the UK needs to learn from the experience of others and move quickly to plug this loophole. Rest assured that the BCSA will continue to make our case on both these issues.

I am now into my second year as President. It is an honour to be in this role and despite all, remain optimistic for the future. We have had much to contend with over the last few years but the members of the BCSA have demonstrated their resilience and moreover their ability to adapt to an ever-evolving marketplace. There are reasons to be cheerful and like the price of steel at the moment the only way is up!

Chris Durand
BCSA President