Some of you will have read the debate in The Structural Engineer, including some strongly stated views that post-BREXIT The Institution of Structural Engineers should allow its members to vote on what codes to use, and other views that we have to stick with the Eurocodes because BSI wishes to stay a member of CEN.

We believe this could be an opportunity for change, and would value your comments. As an independent body with a broad membership, could SCI be the focal point for a steel sector infrastructure covering all aspects of the supply chain and responsible for producing design standards that are more dynamic and better maintained than the Eurocodes, and the system behind them (CEN and the various member state National Standards Bodies)?

A possible vision would be to create a website (this would be our ‘standard’) that provides commentary on the current (so pre-2020+ revision) primary parts of Eurocode 3. This commentary would be free from the constraints of CEN drafting rules and the need to reach agreement in European committees, so for example could include conflicting complementary information where we felt it appropriate, and could include ‘text book’ material where we felt it useful. Complementary information could be taken from old British Standards, or indeed new Eurocode rules where they represent genuine progress. And ‘we’ would be industry (SCI members) as represented in a number of real and/or virtual sector committees mandated to provide input, including monitoring any relevant changes to loading codes or product standards to which the design rules would need to remain aligned (this is one of the main reasons for using current Eurocodes as a starting point, so future needs for re-alignment could be easily controlled). We already have a very minor precedent in SCI’s Concise Eurocode, which contains principle EN1993 clauses plus commentary, and is about to be updated given the benefit of ten years’ hindsight and in particular what that has brought in terms of experience through our Advisory Desk.

Whether this would be better than continuing to run with the Eurocodes as they evolve certainly depends on where you do business and for what types of clients. And clearly, even with the UK’s pragmatic regulatory system, regulators and insurers would want to feel that the standards were credible and independent in providing the right balance between safety, economy, and ease of use.

Comments would be very welcome to help us develop or ditch these thoughts.

Contact Graham Couchman.

SCI develops new Tata Steel Blue Book website

For over 30 years, SCI has published the Blue Book; first in hardcopy and more recently electronically. Over time, the Blue Book has evolved to respond to changes in design codes, new section ranges, higher strength steels and changing IT.

SCI is pleased to announce the latest Tata Steel Blue Book which provides comprehensive section properties and member resistance data for Celsius® and Hybox® structural hollow sections. The new website www.tatasteelbluebook.com provides resistance data to BS 5950 and Eurocode 3 (UK and German National Annexes). The website is available in English and German.

The Tata Steel Blue Book remains the essential aid for the design of structural steel hollow sections. Whatever its format, users of the Tata Steel Blue Book can be confident that the data have been derived to SCI’s usual, exacting standards.

Projects

SCI is a partner in a new, EU project called PROGRESS (Provisions for Greater Reuse of Steel Structures). The 3-year project, which will start in June, will focus on the deconstruction and reuse of elements of single-storey buildings. The project will address both the structural and envelope elements and their interfaces and will also consider both the reuse of existing buildings and how new single-storey buildings can be designed and constructed to facilitate future reuse. The project is being co-ordinated by VTT (Finland); other partners include Ruukki Construction, RWTH Aachen University (Germany) and ECCS (The European Convention for Constructional Steelwork.

Member Only Publication

Design of Joints in Steel Structures, UK Edition

SCI Corporate Members will receive a copy of Design of Joints in Steel Structures, UK Edition in April, this publication is the second in a series of joint SCI-ECCS publications, a series we believe will be extremely helpful in guiding UK designers through the changes that the Eurocodes represent from traditional UK practice. It is a derivative of the general ECCS book “Design of Joints in Steel and Composite Structures”, and includes complementary UK-specific information relating to the National Annexes and common practice. The level of detail provided means this UK edition will help designers, whatever their previous experience, apply Eurocode 3 easily and correctly in the United Kingdom. This publication is only available to members.

Arup Materials

Nancy Baddoo and Graham Gedge (Arup Materials) gave a presentation to 10 senior members of staff at Network Rail on 15 February 2017 on the use of stainless steel for rail structures. One of the issues discussed was correct grade selection for the types of environments typically encountered by Network Rail structures. Experience of the use of stainless steel in bridge structures was also covered, where the results of some recent bridge inspections were presented. Construction cost and life cycle cost comparisons of carbon steel and duplex stainless steel bridges were also presented.

StiFF – Structures in Fire Forum
Next Forum will be held on 11th April, in London.

The Forum will have up to 8 presentations with discussions, the presentations are often based around case studies, current research results and leading edge issues based around current work issues. If you would like to attend or have topics that you would like to discuss at this or future forums please contact David Rush.

Materials 2017 25-26 April 2017
Ilec Centre, Earls Court London

Graham Couchman, CEO, SCI will be taking part in the Metal Panel Debate on Tuesday 25 April. Materials 2017 is the new conference and exhibition, focused entirely on material solutions for architecture, construction, and design, offering a unique opportunity for architects, specifiers, engineers and developers to meet face-to-face, engage in social conversation, and expand business relationships with top materials manufacturers and industry leaders.

For more information on Materials 2017 go to the website.

SCI People

Nancy Baddoo, Associate Director, SCI

Nancy joined SCI 29 years ago and has worked on many projects studying the structural response of high performance steels, both stainless steels and high strength carbon steels. She chairs the Eurocode Working Group for EN 1993-1-4 Structural Stainless Steel and recently wrote the AISC Design Guide on Structural Stainless Steel. She is also a member of the Eurocode Working Groups for Fire and High Strength Steels. She runs SCI’s Training Scheme for engineers seeking to become chartered members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Panel for the ICE Journal ‘Structures and Buildings’.

Contact Nancy.

SCI Publications

Steel building design: Medium rise braced frames (P365) This publication supports one of the very common uses of steel in the UK. This guide provides an introduction to the major features of multi-storey design.

Structural Robustness of Steel Frame Buildings (P391) This publication provides design guidance for hot rolled steel framed buildings on the Eurocode strategies for structural robustness and designing for the avoidance of disproportionate collapse as required by the UK Building Regulations.

Best Practice for the specification and installation of metal cladding and secondary Steelwork (P346) This publication presents guidance to designers and contractors on the specification and installation of profiled metal cladding systems and the supporting purlins and side rails.

SCI New Members

SCI would like to welcome new member;

Arcoir Consulting Ltd

Supreme Engineering

GHD Livigunn Ltd

SCI Members in the News

SCIA Engineer now supports cold formed steel design

SCIA Engineer now specialises in the analysis and design of cold formed steel frames including EN1993-1-3:2006 cold formed steel design checks as well as having the capability to design projects using hot rolled steel, timber and concrete.

Caunton: Supplying Steelwork for Global Giant Magna International Inc.

Caunton is pleased to be supplying the steelwork for a new foundry building for global giant Magna International Inc. McLaren Construction is the main contractor for this new world-class aluminium casting facility in Telford.

Fusion Press Release

Robert Clark, Fusion Building Systems, spoke at the Explore Offsite Hub at Ecobuild 2017, on 9th March, about rewriting the classic fairy tale.

Twitter Suggestion

For course reminders, publication updates and article notifications follow SCI on Twitter.

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