Steel’s cost advantage maintained

Figure 1 illustrates the updated competitive advantage graph – the gap shows that steel is still the cost effective option

Structural steel has maintained its cost advantage over alternative framing materials despite the raw material price increases of the past year, according to the latest update of a building cost comparison study carried out by Davis Langdon.

The study confirms industry evidence that for frame and floor costs in commercial buildings the competitive advantage of steel frames over

concrete remained relatively unchanged in the 18 months to June 2005. ‘The Competitive Gap between steel and concrete remains,’ says Corus Construction & Industrial’s Technical Sales and Marketing Manager Alan Todd.

‘Both steel and concrete framing have increased in cost to a similar extent in the last 18 months, largely due to increased raw materials prices, including fuel.

The cost study data also suggests that steel’s success in capturing market share in growth areas like healthcare and car parks will continue.

In 2004 steel continued to dominate the multi- storey office sector with a 71.7% share, measured by floor area. Steel’s share of the market for all types of multi storey non-residential buildings was 69.2%.