STEEL FRAME CONSTRUCTION: DRIVEN BY STEEL: - OneSteel

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Structural Steel’s Role in SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTS Grandstand at WIN Stadium relocated from the Aquatic Centre. It is generally accepted that the definition of Sustainable Development (SD) is: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” The underlying principle behind this definition of SD is that there needs to be an integration of economic, environmental and social considerations, whilst seeking the optimal outcomes. These key factors should not be examined in isolation but in totality and a long-term view rather than a short-term view should be taken in making decisions. Even though the tools for making better SD decisions is a developing area, there is a strong and growing drive by the community to readily adopt all that is believed to be SD, and not necessarily with much understanding of whether tools or decisions are scientifically well grounded. The increased level of embracement of SD principles and tools is particularly driven by the broader community’s realisation that human interaction with the environment is impacting on climate change and water resources. Currently the most popular tools used to measure or compare the level of sustainability between developments are in the form of a checklist or scorecard. As a developing science, it is important that these tools are simple and easily adjustable to cater for the ever-increasing improvements in the science that will affect arbitrary weighting factors, credit points, and aspects to be rated in those tools. They Better informed design is the key. should be relevant in the decision making for building design and operation for the entire life cycle of the building including design, materials production, construction, operation, maintenance, demolition, component reuse or material recycle. If we look back at the definition of SD, we realise that the integration of environmental, economic and social policies is a complex task which is difficult to package and calibrate using just a simple scorecard. To be effective it requires all the stakeholders to examine the consequences of the scorecard and offer research and opinions to improve the calibration of these scorecards. OneSteel is committed to the environment and therefore has allocated resources into this area to provide feedback to the organisations responsible for administering these scorecards. The Green Buildings Council Australia’s Green Star system is one such a rating tool for which OneSteel has provided submissions to identify areas or issues. Steel is the most recycled material in the world by weight. This is presumably the reason why it is one of the first things that comes to mind when considering SD. However, this is not the key, better informed design is the key. In its submissions OneSteel has also reflected on the hierarchy of factors that will improve the environmental performance of buildings which contain structural steel. The hierarchy is based on the simple fact that the order of importance in SD is (1) Reduce; (2) Reuse; and finally (3) Recycle. OneSteel and its predecessors have devoted significant resources to improving the material strengths of their steel products. While this was predominantly to be the able to offer a premium product in the market place, from an SD perspective, it has also effectively reduced the amount of steel that would otherwise be consumed. The support OneSteel has offered to the development of Australian Design Standards and the design guides that OneSteel publishes promoting more economical designs are also now effectively facilitating design of SD by reducing the amount of steel that would have been used. Steel-framed buildings are chosen by many developers because of the inherent ease with which they can be modified or adapted. These buildings are easily extended either vertically or laterally, unbolted and re-bolted, strengthened and reshaped because of the nature of the connection of one piece of steel to another. Furthermore good design at inception will allow the steel elements of the structure to be unbolted and reused elsewhere. The grandstand seating for the Olympics at the Sydney Aquatic Centre, which has been disassembled and relocated to WIN Stadium, is one such high-profile example. Refurbishing steel members by re-rolling to straighten, cutting and drilling, etc for new application is also an option to consider before recycling. Component reuse will save more energy and reduce greenhouse effects, compared to the next option of remelting into new steel. However, when all the reduce and reuse options are exhausted the steel can be recycled as is already the case with around 95% of structural steel that is used for construction in Australia. The Green Buildings Council Australia has recently launched a Shopping Centre Design Pilot, which includes a new section in the Materials category that allocates points to “Reused Products and Materials” and “Disassembly and Adaptability”. This is a very pleasing development and indicates that the submissions by OneSteel and others are now being considered. For more information on sustainable developments contact OneSteel direct on 1800 1 78335 (1800 1 STEEL) OneSteel Solutions issue 8 page
300PLUS ® Ernst & Young Centre The new Advertiser & Sunday Mail Building The new high-profile headquarters of the Advertiser and Sunday Mail newspapers follows an Adelaide trend to build in steel. The project, which won Best Commercial Building at last year’s RAIA (South Australian Chapter) Awards was built with 1200 tonnes of structural steel at a cost of $50 million. The five-storey building, at 31 Waymouth Street, is a steel-framed office construction using composite steel beams with a basement level and twostorey plant mezzanine above the roof. The building fits comfortably into the podium scale of the street and has been designed to enhance the quality of the pedestrian environment and provide a visually exciting façade on Waymouth Street. Designed by E.G.O │Fender Katsalidis, a joint venture between E.G.O, the Sydney commercial interior design firm and architects Fender Katsalidis, the impressive architecture presents a glass façade wall, while inside the building an atrium runs north to south, linked by bridges at each level from the lifts to the working floors. An open stairwell runs up through the atrium creating an ambience of light and space. The atrium, which runs the full height of the building, is a soaring space, naturally lit from above. This space allows immediate understanding of the workings of the building whilst providing natural light to the deep plan office floors. It also provides incidental staff meeting places via bridges which connect each office floor to the lift core and toilets, creating an environment for social and information exchange. Full height atrium naturally lit from above. OneSteel Solutions issue 8 page
Page 1 and 2: Construction Solutions in Structura
Page 3: in the news Composite Analysis Soft
Page 7 and 8: CLIENT Advertiser Newspapers Pty Li
Page 9 and 10: Latitude East @ World Square E x p
Page 11 and 12: 300PLUS ® Latitude East @ World Sq
Page 13 and 14: Steel frame construction delivers N
Page 15 and 16: 300PLUS ® 50 Lonsdale Street, Melb
Page 17 and 18: DRIVEN BY STEEL SX1 - SOUTHERN CROS
Page 19 and 20: 300PLUS ® Brisbane Airport Steel d
Page 21 and 22: BIG DEVELOPERS COMBINE IN STEEL TO
Page 23 and 24: 300PLUS ® Flinders Link - Adelaide

STEEL FRAME CONSTRUCTION: DRIVEN BY STEEL: - OneSteel

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