Recent optimism that we have reported among investors and developers has been called sharply into question by the continuing conflict in the Middle East, which at the time of writing looked like it could either come to a negotiated end soon, or escalate further. Few are prepared to stick their necks out and say which is more likely.
As Chris Durrand points out in his President’s column, steel section prices are likely to rise as a result. Fortunately steel has always been very competitive on price, so there should be a good bit of headroom before it becomes as expensive as alternatives, whose prices are also likely to rise. And steel has many benefits other than price to make it the first choice solution in the key markets that steel dominates.
As usual, NSC has some good examples this month of projects that show why steel is such a popular choice. From Guernsey in the Channel Islands in this issue we report on a new further education centre that satisfies the project’s embodied carbon strategy. Despite transportation costs of bringing fabricated steel across the Channel, steel was a cost effective choice.
In London we find steel’s ability to work with other materials to benefit a project on an over rail transfer solution at the DLR lines at Tower Gateway Station. Using steel meant two transfer structures could be installed in sections during relatively short track possessions, saving train operators revenue.
Speed of construction and provision of long spans were key factors in the selection of steel for a new leisure centre, including a swimming pool, under construction in The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The design for this project includes incorporating elements that can be easily reused at the end of a building’s life, a feature we expect to see more of as design for reuse and adaptive reuse capture the imagination of clients and designers.
At Immingham we see steel’s speed of construction and ability to create long column-free spans showing why steel is the material of choice for most logistics developments. BREEAM ‘Excellent’ is being pursued here, and steel is confirmed by the project’s architect and structural engineer to have been the only viable framing solution.
A growth sector that steel construction has served very well over the past few years is data centres, invariably framed in steel. This has been a rare growth sector recently, and the good news is that this looks likely to continue. The government is in the process of designating data centres as essential services, similar to water, energy and emergency services systems, as they are said to host and support the digital infrastructure that underpins modern life and are critical to almost all economic activity and public services.
It is estimated that there are now some 500 data centres in the UK, heavily clustered around London, with smaller clusters around Manchester and Birmingham. Some 90 new projects are currently planned to support Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud growth, for clients including some of the biggest digital leaders such as Microsoft, Google and Meta.
It is encouraging to the constructional steelwork sector that it has been entrusted with making such a valuable contribution to creating them. As the digital economy continues to grow, that support will continue.
Steel has many benefits besides price
Recent optimism that we have reported among investors and developers has been called sharply into question by the continuing conflict in the Middle East, which at the time of writing looked like it could either come to a negotiated end soon, or escalate further. Few are prepared to stick their necks out and say which is more likely.
As Chris Durrand points out in his President’s column, steel section prices are likely to rise as a result. Fortunately steel has always been very competitive on price, so there should be a good bit of headroom before it becomes as expensive as alternatives, whose prices are also likely to rise. And steel has many benefits other than price to make it the first choice solution in the key markets that steel dominates.
As usual, NSC has some good examples this month of projects that show why steel is such a popular choice. From Guernsey in the Channel Islands in this issue we report on a new further education centre that satisfies the project’s embodied carbon strategy. Despite transportation costs of bringing fabricated steel across the Channel, steel was a cost effective choice.
In London we find steel’s ability to work with other materials to benefit a project on an over rail transfer solution at the DLR lines at Tower Gateway Station. Using steel meant two transfer structures could be installed in sections during relatively short track possessions, saving train operators revenue.
Speed of construction and provision of long spans were key factors in the selection of steel for a new leisure centre, including a swimming pool, under construction in The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The design for this project includes incorporating elements that can be easily reused at the end of a building’s life, a feature we expect to see more of as design for reuse and adaptive reuse capture the imagination of clients and designers.
At Immingham we see steel’s speed of construction and ability to create long column-free spans showing why steel is the material of choice for most logistics developments. BREEAM ‘Excellent’ is being pursued here, and steel is confirmed by the project’s architect and structural engineer to have been the only viable framing solution.
A growth sector that steel construction has served very well over the past few years is data centres, invariably framed in steel. This has been a rare growth sector recently, and the good news is that this looks likely to continue. The government is in the process of designating data centres as essential services, similar to water, energy and emergency services systems, as they are said to host and support the digital infrastructure that underpins modern life and are critical to almost all economic activity and public services.
It is estimated that there are now some 500 data centres in the UK, heavily clustered around London, with smaller clusters around Manchester and Birmingham. Some 90 new projects are currently planned to support Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud growth, for clients including some of the biggest digital leaders such as Microsoft, Google and Meta.
It is encouraging to the constructional steelwork sector that it has been entrusted with making such a valuable contribution to creating them. As the digital economy continues to grow, that support will continue.