SCI launched its SCI Assessed scheme well over ten years ago. Our aim from the very start was to provide a flexible scheme to help manufacturers get their products specified by providing reassurance to potential users. So we are not only able to confirm the stated performance of a product, but also confirm that things such as design software associated with that product are appropriate.

However, it is also the case that users may not appreciate the scope of what any given third party certification or assessment actually means. A classic example is a CE Mark that does not declare certain properties – the product is still CE Marked but may not have the same performance as an alternative product.

With this in mind SCI is developing its SCI Assessed scheme as applied specifically to product performance, so that in future all product certificates will include the same scope. Some items may be marked as ‘Not Assessed’ but this will be clear up front so that users do not have to search the small print to find what has not actually been assessed. This should help to avoid misunderstandings and misuse of products.

Another ‘product’ within the SCI Assessed family is our NHBC Stage 1 scheme. Stage 1 confirms that a given light steel manufacturer’s system manual complies with the generic standards of the NHBC Chapter 6.10 for light steel walls and floors. Stage 2 is then undertaken to ensure that the manual is applied correctly on any given project. That is all well and good, only if the project is actually constructed according to the specific design. We are therefore now offering Stage 3 assessment of as-built (or ‘being built’) schemes to give builders confidence that the design is being properly implemented.

We believe that in a world where designers rely more-and-more on third party information these developments will be a step towards the construction of more robust structures. Contact Graham Couchman or Andrew Way.

Over recent years SCI and Steadmans have been working together to produce structural design software for the Steadmans range of purlins, rails and eaves beams. The EuroSpec software has been extensively utilised in-house by the Steadmans design team and is now being made available to external users.

The structural design carried out by EuroSpec is based on Eurocode design principals with combinations of actions from EN 1990, wind actions from EN 1991-1-4 and snow actions from EN 1991-1-3. The member resistances are derived from comprehensive testing and analysis of test data undertaken by SCI. The test programme included tests on the various configurations within the Steadmans systems including: single span, double span and sleeved solutions.

The EuroSpec software has been produced by SCI to create an intuitive, user friendly interface with parametric graphics and flexibility of design. The EuroSpec software includes the following key features:

• Separate design modes for individual elements or secondary steelwork for a complete building.
• Suitable for a range of building shapes including; duo-pitch, mono-pitch and multi-span.
• Automated wind load analysis utilising BREVe, including consideration of wind loads for accidental dominant openings.
• Automated inclusion of snow drifts in valleys and adjacent to parapets.
• Automated design procedures to account for agricultural and non-agricultural buildings.
• Functionality for user-defined purlin and rail positions to ensure restraint to the primary steelwork can be provided at the locations specified by the designer.
• Comprehensive output reports with breakdown of individual design conditions including; serviceability criteria, positive and negative wind pressure and accidental snow drifting.

For more information on Eurospec and how to obtain your software please call Steadmans on +44 (0) 16974 78277.

SCI’s expertise in structural design of steel and SCI’s in-house software development capability enables SCI to design, build and support bespoke engineering software for several manufacturers. Bespoke software facilitates optimal application of products which in turn enables informed specification, acceptance and market uptake of products.

For more information on development of SCI engineering software please contact;

USA Webinar – Wednesday 20 September 2017

To support current efforts in North America to include stainless Steel in relevant product and design standards, SCI together with Arup, TMR, Virginia Tech and Pedelta have joined together to present a webinar which will inform relevant parties on the use of Stainless Steel in bridge and highway structures.

This 2-hour webinar will look at existing structures, design rules, opportunities and obstacles. Invitations have been sent to bridge engineers in the US State departments of transport and Federal Highways, invitations also went to bridge designers, researchers and the wider stainless industry in the USA.

If you are designers of stainless steel bridge components, FHWA, DOT officials or Stainless Steel producers and section manufacturers in the USA and haven’t had an invite please contact us.

Steel Connection Design, Nottingham – 10 October 2017

This 1-day course will explain the key principles of Connection behaviour which must be realised in connection details. The course will raise awareness of the resistance of standardised connections, explain the complexities of the design of moment-resisting bolted joints and equip designers with the knowledge to design common connections with confidence.

Attendees will be equipped to;

• Design nominally pinned connections to the Eurocode
• Appreciate the design process for bolted moment-resisting connections
• Understand the principles to be applied to unorthodox connection configurations
• Have a good appreciation of component design, including bolts, welds and plates.

For more information click here.

To book your place contact: Education@steel-sci.com.

Tuesday 26th September 2017, Imperial College, London.

This one day seminar will launch the Fourth Edition of the Design Manual for Structural Stainless Steel and will equip engineers with the skills necessary to design structural stainless steel in accordance with current European design practice. The seminar will demonstrate design versatility and highlighting procurement issues. Each delegate will receive a copy of this new publication.

The seminar is part of PUREST (Promotion of new Eurocode rules for structural stainless steel), a European dissemination project funded by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel.

Cost to attend £50, refreshments included.

For more information click here.

To book your place contact: Education@steel-sci.com.

Wednesday 14th November, Royal College of Physicians, Regents Park, London

Despite much overuse of the word ‘innovative’, the construction sector has always been relatively conservative. Speakers from both SCI and our member companies will look at some of the developments that could become of growing relevance over the coming decade, including new forms of construction, solutions to minimise the use of new materials and maximise the benefits offered by steel, and the appearance of a second generation of Eurocodes. Drivers will change and push steel construction in these directions, but how long will it take?

Free to attend, refreshments included.

To book your place contact: Education@steel-sci.com.

David Brown, SCI Associate Director

Before joining the SCI in 1992, David worked for steelwork contractors, and before that, British Rail. He presents regularly at SCI courses on a variety of subjects, but mostly concerned with practical design. He (or at least his voice!) might be familiar to some members as he delivers several of the lunchtime webinar subjects. David has been involved in plenty of SCI publications, including the Eurocode “Blue Book”, books on simple and moment-resisting connections (the “Green Books”), portal frame design and multi-storey frame design. Delivering training has taken David to the extremities of the British Isles, and also to South Africa, India, Kenya and Ukraine. He is a member of several technical committees covering steelwork design. When asked what he actually does, his family respond that he “does hard sums”.

Joints in Steel Construction moment resisting joints to EC3 (P398) 'The Green Book Series'. This guidance presents design of moment-resisting joints in accordance with Eurocode 3. It succeeds the popular Joints in Steel Construction–Moment Connections (P207/95) (in accordance with BS 5950). Shop here.

Joints in Steel Construction. Simple joints to Eurocode 3 (P358) 'The Green Book Series'. This publication provides guidance for nominally pinned joints most common in steel structures that primarily carry vertical shear and, as an accidental limit state, tying forces. Shop here.

Steel building design. Design data. Eurocode ‘Blue Book’ (P363). The “Blue Book” is the essential aid for the design of steelwork. Comprehensive tables of member resistances are given for S275 and S355 steel. Republished June 2013.
Shop here.

SCI would like to welcome a new member;

Greenway Engineering Services Ltd

All aboard the £45m ferries project

Structural steel company, REIDsteel has completed work on landmark passenger facilities as part of a £45m ferry terminal revamp in Portsmouth.

The 130-strong firm based in Dorset was contracted for the project at Gunwharf for ferry operator Wightlink through Southampton-based engineering, procurement and construction contractor Trant Engineering.

MP’s praise for steel firm

A Dorset company shaping Britain’s skyline has been praised by an MP for its contribution to the UK’s manufacturing industry.

MP for Poole, Robert Syms, spoke as he toured the headquarters of SMD Ltd, one of only a handful of British firms to design, manufacture and install its own steel decking systems.

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