Structural Steel - OneSteel

INTERVIEWRichard BarrettWith nearly 70% of newoffice buildings in theUnited Kingdom beingbuilt with structural steelframes, steelworkcontractors in the UKlook to new markets forfuture growth.However he said, “The current UK marketis quite weak, particularly London, whereweakness in the world financial markethas meant construction slowdown and anoversupply of office space. So that market,which was a major market for steel, hasdried up. The biggest market for steel inthe UK, the shed market for warehouseand distribution, has also slowed. Soabout 65 percent of our activity is in anarea which is in cyclical decline.”MARKET ANALYSISAND ADVERTISINGDespite this decline the UK steel industryhas managed to maintain volumes andtonnages. But how?Richard Barrett told OneSteel Solutionsthat the National Steelwork ContractorsGroup looked at other markets wherethey could boost volumes and takemarket share from concrete. Theyidentified residential, the very strongeducation market for schools anduniversities, hospitals and carparks.“Carparks and residential are two areaswhere concrete has the larger marketshare. The residential apartment buildingis a growth area where we have about 10to 15 percent of the market, whereas inoffices it’s 69 percent. If we can drivethose markets forward the performanceof the steel industry will be stronger.”Market capture has been the outcome ofastute market analysis, acted on byaggressive advertising.“The National Steel Contractors Grouppassed the hat around and the ads wentout” Richard Barrett said, “throughConstruction News, a tabloid sizetrade publication, targeting developers,builders, the architects and engineers.We took three large pages full ofinteresting buildings, built in steel.”“The reaction to the campaign has beenextremely positive with developers andbuilders, who have traditionally developedin concrete, saying: “I didn’t know theydid these in steel. The campaign hasoffset the decline in the office and theshed markets. We are holding thevolumes and taking market sharefrom other materials.”DESIGN AND BUILDOn some projects in the UK, RichardBarrett explained, the steelworkcontractor does the steelwork design.“I’m not talking about doing thearchitectural aspects but the steelworkcontractors are deciding the size of thesteel frame and the options and thelayout, if they get in early enough.”“Design of high profile projects willalways stay with the big consulting firms.But the mainstream market for regularbuildings, ten storey office blocks or fivestorey apartments, is perfect for a Designand Build steel contractor and the marketis increasingly moving that way.”“There will always be a role for theconsulting engineer, but the steelworkcontractor will, most of the time, comeup with a better design on these projects.That’s because he’s driven to win the jobthrough competition so has to try harderto come up with the optimum solutions.He’s also in possession of informationthe consulting engineer, realistically,can’t get, such as material availability,material prices, different sizes, differentcuts of steel. He can design the projectto suit his commercial terms, theagreements he has with the steel millsor the steel distributors.”“The steelwork contractor can alsodesign to suit the fabrication facilities.We tailor our designs precisely to fit ourmachines so the pieces are ideal to gothrough the machinery. We’re designingit to be easy to build so you’ve got thefull depth of the vision.”“But in the construction industry we toooften divorce the two and put theprofessionals in to do the design.”“Over the last 20 years Design and Buildhas become predominant in the singlestorey market - a massively importantOne of Barrett Steel’smajor UK residentialprojects, designedusing structuralsteel framing.THE IT ADVANTAGEBarrett Steel Buildingsoperates an integratedsuite of engineeringdesign, analysis and steeldetailing packages linkedto an in-house multifunction program for costestimating. Central to thesuite are the shop-detailingand fabrication controlsoftware packages.With 10 engineers on staffthe company is a hybridbetween a consultingengineer and fabricator.All the design, which thecompany considers a corefunction, is done in-house.Steel detailing, however,is done at sites in the UK,Brisbane, Australia andAuckland, New Zealand.onesteel solutions issue 5 page 7