Reports of confidence among UK businesses have been mixed recently, but the uncertainties are against a background of forecasts from institutions like the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that global, including the UK’s, economic performance will be stronger into 2025. Fiscal prudence without a return to austerity is the OECD’s recommended course, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, seems to be trying to chart, according to other reports. Much depends on the contents of the Chancellor’s Budget on 30 October.
More immediate and tangible reasons for optimism will be easily found, as ever, by taking a look at the successful entrants in this year’s Structural Steel Design Awards, which we extensively cover in this issue of NSC. The SSDA has been showcasing the best of steel construction – arguably the best of UK construction period – for 56 years now. Looking at this year’s crop of awards, the conclusion can only be that the sector is strong and the future secure.
From an initial shortlist of no fewer than 21 highly impressive projects, six were selected for Awards, with seven receiving coveted Commendations and another awarded a Merit. All are outstanding examples of what can be achieved by skilled construction teams when using constructional steelwork, exploiting its design and construction potential, to the full, to allow them to showcase theirs.
The six Award winners, however, all had something that made them that bit special in the eyes of the independent judges. A special feature of the SSDA, one of the longest running awards, is that the judges actually visit the projects, and talk to the key members of the project teams. They have to be sure on every level that projects given an Award thoroughly deserve it.
The SSDA judges have free rein to select the projects that, in their opinion as architects, engineers, and contractors, most merit the highest recognition. Their brief allows them to even decline to make any Award if they feel none come up to the mark. That has never happened in 56 years, but this rule highlights that the SSDA is no mere rubber stamping exercise.
Award winners this year were a 50 storey landmark City office development; a world class cultural venue in Manchester; the UK’s largest indoor venue, also in Manchester; a rail and road spanning bridge in Essex; a commercial development on a congested site in London’s Victoria; and structural engineering excellence on BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ minimalist offices in west London.
All of this year’s entries scored highly in terms of sustainability, including an operational net zero Commendation awarded retail building. Reclaimed steelwork featured on the Merit awarded Holbein Gardens commercial development in London, where circularity was stressed by client Grosvenor, who say it is their flagship sustainability project and first net zero development.
Other common features listed by the judges included cost-effectiveness, efficiency and innovation, as seen in a research institute in Glasgow and other buildings of diverse types. As Chairman of the judging panel Professor Roger Plank said in his address to the Awards ceremony, innovation, smart working, problem-solving and community benefit are as relevant to the judging as appearance and scale.
For some years the judges have been pleased to note the genuine focus on sustainability among construction teams, and with climate change high on everyone’s agenda, the judges want to know how a project contributes to a more sustainable future. Steel construction will play a key role in building that future.
SSDA provides reasons to be cheerful
Reports of confidence among UK businesses have been mixed recently, but the uncertainties are against a background of forecasts from institutions like the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that global, including the UK’s, economic performance will be stronger into 2025. Fiscal prudence without a return to austerity is the OECD’s recommended course, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, seems to be trying to chart, according to other reports. Much depends on the contents of the Chancellor’s Budget on 30 October.
More immediate and tangible reasons for optimism will be easily found, as ever, by taking a look at the successful entrants in this year’s Structural Steel Design Awards, which we extensively cover in this issue of NSC. The SSDA has been showcasing the best of steel construction – arguably the best of UK construction period – for 56 years now. Looking at this year’s crop of awards, the conclusion can only be that the sector is strong and the future secure.
From an initial shortlist of no fewer than 21 highly impressive projects, six were selected for Awards, with seven receiving coveted Commendations and another awarded a Merit. All are outstanding examples of what can be achieved by skilled construction teams when using constructional steelwork, exploiting its design and construction potential, to the full, to allow them to showcase theirs.
The six Award winners, however, all had something that made them that bit special in the eyes of the independent judges. A special feature of the SSDA, one of the longest running awards, is that the judges actually visit the projects, and talk to the key members of the project teams. They have to be sure on every level that projects given an Award thoroughly deserve it.
The SSDA judges have free rein to select the projects that, in their opinion as architects, engineers, and contractors, most merit the highest recognition. Their brief allows them to even decline to make any Award if they feel none come up to the mark. That has never happened in 56 years, but this rule highlights that the SSDA is no mere rubber stamping exercise.
Award winners this year were a 50 storey landmark City office development; a world class cultural venue in Manchester; the UK’s largest indoor venue, also in Manchester; a rail and road spanning bridge in Essex; a commercial development on a congested site in London’s Victoria; and structural engineering excellence on BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ minimalist offices in west London.
All of this year’s entries scored highly in terms of sustainability, including an operational net zero Commendation awarded retail building. Reclaimed steelwork featured on the Merit awarded Holbein Gardens commercial development in London, where circularity was stressed by client Grosvenor, who say it is their flagship sustainability project and first net zero development.
Other common features listed by the judges included cost-effectiveness, efficiency and innovation, as seen in a research institute in Glasgow and other buildings of diverse types. As Chairman of the judging panel Professor Roger Plank said in his address to the Awards ceremony, innovation, smart working, problem-solving and community benefit are as relevant to the judging as appearance and scale.
For some years the judges have been pleased to note the genuine focus on sustainability among construction teams, and with climate change high on everyone’s agenda, the judges want to know how a project contributes to a more sustainable future. Steel construction will play a key role in building that future.