The 12th of November saw over 100 delegates arrive at The Crystal in London for SCI’s Annual Event. Many of those delegates completed their journey using the Emirates Cable Car, which seemed a fitting way to travel. The theme for the event, planned many months ago, seemed particularly topical as headlines about UK steel producers began to appear in the national press in recent weeks.
SCI’s Graham Couchman began the presentations, looking back at parallel streams of how SCI has evolved over the 30 years since its creation, and how the UK steel construction sector has changed. Reference was made to such landmarks as the Eurocodes, the construction of nuclear power stations, and SCI publications including the Blue and Green Books.
Mike Walsh from Hatch Ltd then spoke about steel production and demand. He considered various ways of predicting future global demand, all of which suggested the future is very bright for global steel producers. He noted the forecast population increases in the ‘next 20’ group of countries (a disparate grouping). Based on the assumption that human aspiration will not change, and that aspiration is associated with steel use for infrastructure and goods, the need for steel is high. He also looked at how the way we make steel has evolved, how that will affect the future, and indeed the global need for scrap.
Carl Perry from BlueScope placed an emphasis on construction products and processes, rather than steel production and consumption. He considered when market needs lead technology, and technology enables innovative solutions. He identified that the on-going trend will be for lighter steel products, made using higher strength steels, and gave particular consideration to novel coatings. In terms of process he demonstrated cases where working at height has been completely eliminated from site practice.
During the closing Q&A session the need to differentiate between UK steel production, and the UK steel construction sector, which is currently vibrant, was emphasised.