Focus on Framing - Putting Steel at the Centre of Construction

Frank and forthright discussions were the order of the day at a recent Focus on Framing virtual roundtable, seeking to identify many of the key drivers for the specification and sustainability of light steel frame within the offsite and wider construction sector. Here are some of the key takeaway points raised.

As a material agnostic solution contractor, Emily King, Client Solutions Director at Mid Group, started proceedings by explaining that light steel framing is predominantly used for complex buildings where additional structural integrity is necessary: “Steel is the answer to complex questions where a lightweight response is required.” When asked whether a volumetric modular or panelised system is preferred, although Emily admitted she passionately believes in volumetric, she considered panelised systems offer more design adaptability adding: “If you get the design right, steel frame offers massive flexibility and cost benefits.”

Turning to sustainability, the group agreed that the environmental benefits of using light steel framing systems are not widely understood. Steel is definitely part of a carbon neutral solution and communicating this is crucial. Sustainability is back at the top of the construction agenda, however when budgets are tight – the participants found safety, cost, programme, design adaptability and structural integrity are more often a ‘deciding factor’.

Robert Clark from Fusion Building Systems said: “There is a misconception about steel and to win the embodied carbon debate, we need to focus on the strength-to-weight message. Low weight equates to improved efficiencies. You get an awful lot of structure for not a lot of weight which reduces embodied carbon. This is where steel cannot be beaten. Lighter structures not only reduce material consumption but reduce concrete in the ground.”

Peter Burchill from EOS Framing believes there is a real conflict at the moment in specification decisions and although the focus appears to be shifting to sustainability, in reality safety wins hands down: “Light steel frame has real safety, fire performance and sustainability advantages but the recycled content is not widely acknowledged.”

Alex Small from Tata Steel is also looking to address the misconceptions surrounding the sustainability equation: “Discussions used to focus on lifecycle analysis including recycling at the end of a building’s life. This approach proves that light steel frame systems are intrinsically more sustainable but more recently the focus has been on embodied carbon which is far more simplistic. This is probably because it is a less complex calculation and easier to digest but embodied carbon just reflects the start of a building’s life. This is not a case of kicking the ‘carbon can’ down the road - in use performance, the circular economy and recycling at the end of a building’s life are crucially important considerations. Digital value tool kits are required to provide much needed evidence to change the debate and to offer in-depth accurate analysis of whole life carbon calculations.”

It was suggested that independent industry bodies such as the Construction Innovation Hub, BRE and the Green Building Council need to pick up on this and lead the debate on which is the more valuable calculation – embodied or whole life carbon. The group also agreed specification is not a binary decision – buildings are the sum of many parts.

David Ellison from Intelligent Steel Solutions added that only one of his clients had sustainability as the key driver. “Decisions are based on cost, capacity, site constraints, perceptions and future adaptability. There are a lot of key drivers that take precedence, but safety, cost, speed and predictability are at the top.”

Construction pressed home the point: “The first and primary consideration for the specification of the structural solution should be what we do from a fire perspective and only then, should carbon emissions and sustainability be discussed. The conversation needs to be more nuanced and focus on what you can and cannot use on a building from a safety perspective.”

When specifying or assessing a building where does sustainability sit?” For Des O'Dwyer from Richard Hopkins Architects: “Sustainability is currently falling down the list and that’s not only from a client’s perspective but equally from an architects’ point of view. There are lots of reasons why – budget and programme being two of them, but architects have to not only consider risk from a building safety perspective but also an insurance standpoint. The proposed change in Building Regulations extending the ban of combustible materials in external walls from 18 to 11 metres, is another thing to contend with.”

“Timber has a much ‘softer and more welcoming’ image and light steel frame is a more technical approach with designs being harder to visualise – so the industry needs visual design representations of what is achievable. You need to play to the industries strengths – steel needs to offer a ‘whole package’ solution, an entire wall build-up, from internal linings through to the facade – this would de-risk the construction processes for architects.”

Michael Sansom from the Steel Construction Institute (SCI) played the role of ‘devil’s advocate’ stating: “We in the industry know the attributes of light steel framing but for context we are facing a climate emergency. It is generally believed that operational carbon has been addressed and that we must now move on to reducing embodied carbon. However, evidence of the ‘performance gap’ demonstrated by CIBSE – TM54 Evaluating Operational

Energy Performance of Buildings at the Design Stage – confirms that there is still much to do to reduce operational carbon. I can appreciate, more than

most, the long-term benefits of steel and we have to look at the circular economy where recycling and reusing is massively important.”

Neville Grunwald, Head of Facades at Wates Construction, wholly supported this adding: “Once we start looking at reusing metal components structural verification presents challenges but the real elephant in the room in the sustainability challenge is cost – once clients find out the true cost, they revert back to steel and concrete.”

Acknowledging that more collaboration is required Jim Roach from ARV Solutions stressed: “I think there should be more collaboration, not only within the light steel industry but also across the offsite material sectors. By adopting a united approach, offsite technologies will have a greater impact in influencing the construction industry to adopt modern methods of construction and move away from outmoded traditional on-site approaches.”

The steel manufacturing environment is more automated and has become incredibly efficient at value engineering and minimising waste through design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) approaches and the advances in digital engineering with better use of Building Information Modelling (BIM).

Chris Gatehouse from Tekla said: “From a modelling point of view there is no waste – the software is engineered to allow customers to optimise precisely to their design requirements. With cold rolled steel the only waste is the swarf and offcuts produced in the manufacturing which are minimal and can be recycled. One thing that is not considered as part of the sustainability equation is the utilisation percentage of steel – all offcuts are recycled and there is no waste at all. I would really like to see comparisons with other utilisation percentage metrics with materials such as timber.”

More value is being added to the manufacturing process through the introduction of a systems approach such as pre-insulating panels in the factory, which Fusion Building Systems have been doing for some time and the panelised through-wall approach that is now being pioneered by companies such as EOS which include boarding and insulation, taking waste out of other components that interface with steel. Is the level of sophistication within the steel industry being underplayed?

Robert Clark, Head of Business Development, Fusion Building Systems responded with a resounding ‘yes’ highlighting just one example: “We have been working with a national housebuilder and through using Revit digital technology, Fusion Building Systems has managed the design process. Just through eliminating waste and time inefficiencies, vast savings per unit have been achieved. With a traditional approach to construction there is a massive amount of waste of materials and time – the savings were so vast we could not initially believe it ourselves.”

Emily King, Client Solutions Director, Mid Group, highlighted the need to get this message out there saying: “I attend many forums and there is a need for the light steel frame industry to get these positive messages out there. I have to present proposals to clients and the more knowledge I have, the more informed my recommendations.” It can be about simplifying the message and educating architects that do not come out of university with an in-depth knowledge of every material system.

Michael Sansom, Associate Director, Steel Construction Institute, raised a significant point concerning the recycling and reusing process: “The light steel framing sector can learn from the hot rolled steel industry where SCI has produced a prototype database which we can upload all IFC files so we can retain all the design, manufacturing and structural information for all the steel elements used in a building. By capturing and storing all the information at

the end of the building’s lifecycle steel components can be reused with confidence as we have all the properties captured and documented.”

Alex Small, BIM & Digital Platforms Manager at TATA Steel had several points he wanted to address starting with enabling reuse: “Standardisation and a system approach is the driving force behind our consortium-led Seismic project, which is working on the future of construction for schools and healthcare facilities. It is a logical development with impressive results on light steel standardisation and by supplying a documented kit of panelised or modular parts, everything becomes reusable at the end of a building’s life.”

As the discussion evolved it was agreed that all the messages downstream of steel production are ‘good news’ stories with steel bringing major safety, adaptability and longevity benefits to construction. Michael Sansom, Associate Director, Steel Construction Institute, considered the circular economy and shared some thought-provoking facts: “In the UK we are largely self-sufficient in steel, by that I mean we can pretty well produce all the steel we need through recycling our latent stock to satisfy market demand. But steel is a global commodity, and we live in a global community. Many nations are still

evolving but in developed economies there is a stock of 12 tonnes of steel per person and if we can get to that point globally – then we have eliminated primary steel production worldwide.”

This point emphasised the fact that the demand for recycled steel is going to go up and there is a pressing need to grade and ID tag every component so that when it does come back into the market – quality steel ready to be recycled is easily identifiable. This sparked a healthy debate about how this information could be included in the ‘as built’ BIM Model. Alex Small, BIM & Digital Platforms Manager, TATA Steel said: “As steel manufacturers already keep this data, to drive the maximum possible benefits, they should be custodians of this information.”

Chris Gatehouse, Regional Account Manager, Trimble Solutions/Tekla UK, raised a note of caution adding: “Embedding the data in the BIM model can be laborious and problematic, the most reliable and efficient solution is to link back to the manufacturer’s data.” Rounding off the session, Darren Richards, Managing Director, Cogent Consulting, finished by saying: “When we gather a group of construction industry professionals together and pose some challenging questions, we cannot predict the outcome. This has been a frank and honest discussion which will take the industry forward

with the support of the Light Steel Frame Association. There are areas for improvement, and it is quite clear that this event will result in some key collaborations.”

Many thanks to ARV Solutions, EOS, Intelligent Steel and Trimble Solutions/Tekla for sponsoring the Virtual Roundtable Event and thanks to all participants for their time and contributions to the online discussion.

1 Jan