The Steel Bridge Group (SBG) is an active technical forum formed 20 years ago to consider matters of high priority interest to the steel bridge construction industry with a view to making steel bridge solutions more competitive, easier to procure and more appealing from a whole-life perspective. Over the years, a key focus of the group has been to identify and report technical issues with the use of the Eurocodes and to produce complementary guidance reflecting UK best practice.

For the first time, the SBG had a presence at the Bridges 2018 conference, sharing a stand with SCI and SBG Members ArcelorMittal. Chris Hendy, the Chair of the SBG, had the opportunity to use the main platform to present on the group's recent activities. The group also launched their new sponsorship opportunities at the event. Potential sponsors of the SBG include client organisations, steel producers, steelwork contractors, design consultancies, fabricators, product manufacturers as well as industry trade associations. Three sponsorship levels are proposed namely Gold, Silver and Bronze, with the level of exposure given to SBG sponsors increasing from the Bronze to the Gold sponsorships.

For more information on Membership or Sponsorship opportunities of the SBG please contact Guillaume Vannier.

The Light Steel Forum is a membership group organised by SCI. The group is a technical forum whose purpose is to develop and promote the advantages and uses of light steel framing and modular construction through a range of activities which are decided upon by the members.

Earlier this month was the first meeting of the SCI Light Steel Forum for 2018. Members of the group discussed ongoing and future activities which include: research into diaphragm action of light steel walls with boards attached, providing technical assistance for NHBC's revision to their Chapter 6.10 and production of further technical information sheets.

The membership of the Light Steel Forum is composed of the following leading manufacturers of light steel framing systems and associated products within the UK construction sector: Ayrshire Metals Ltd, BW Industries Ltd, Fusion Building Systems, Hadley Steel Framing Ltd, Kingspan Steel Building Solutions, Metek UK Ltd, Saint-Gobain, Sigmat Ltd, Vision-Built Manufacturing Ltd and voestalpine Metsec plc. For information about membership of the Light Steel Forum please contact Andrew Way at SCI.

This month SCI staff have been busy representing the steel sector and contributing to UK comments on the latest Eurocode revisions at various committee meetings. These included Nancy Baddoo at the EN1993-1-4 for Stainless Steel, Ana Girao Coelho at the EN1993-1-8 committee for Joints.

SCI were proud to sponsor Offsite Awards 2018, this year the award ceremony was part of the larger EcoBuild Exhibition. Michael Sansom was one of the judges for the ‘Best Use of Steel' section and presented the award to worthy winners Vision Modular. Well done to all those who entered this year's competition.

As part of the Building Performance Seminars which were run at Ecobuild 6-8 March 2018, Michael Sansom presented on Steel Recycling and Reuse as part of the session on ‘Product manufacturers - implementing circular economy thinking'

This new conference explored the long-term impact of green technology on metals supply and demand and examined a broad spectrum of materials, including steel, aluminium, base metals, and ferroalloys. Michael Sansom was invited to present on Recycling and Reuse.

In 2015 Graham Couchman was commissioned to translate Steel Bridge: Conceptual and Structural Design of Steel and Steel-Concrete Composite bridges, (Jean Paul-Lebet, Manfred A Hirt. 2013) from French to English, since then this publication has been translated from English to Chinese and Japanese. Latest sales figures indicate 1971 copies sold in Chinese and 311 in Japanese.

Portakabin Modular Hall

Portakabin has been specialising in providing portable and modular buildings for more than 50 years. The company operates in seven countries and continues to innovate and develop exceptional buildings that meet the challenges of efficient, sustainable, high-quality construction.

The SCI has recently completed the assessment of the Portakabin structural design methodology for it's Modular Hall System, which is now awarded SCI Assessed status. Structural calculations in accordance with Eurocodes and design values derived from physical testing were included in the evaluation. The full scope of the products and data covered by the assessment are described in SCI Report RT 1753 v02 (February 2018).

For further information about SCI Assessed please contact Andrew Way at SCI.

ISE, Northern Ireland Branch - Making the Connections: SCOSS, Wednesday 25 April 2018

Richard Henderson will be presenting a 4 hour course on Steel Connection Design to the members of the ISE, Northern Ireland Branch. More information.

WorldSteel Construction Conference 2018 - The role of steel in spurring productivity improvements in construction. London, 17-18 April 2018.

Graham Couchman will be attending this conference and presenting on Building frame selection: design, programme & building performance on Wednesday 18th April. Full Programme.

Process and Safety Course, China, 27-29 April 2018

Bassam Burgan will be presenting part of a three-day process safety course from 27th to 29th April in Guangzhou, China. The course is for university students at the School of Material Science and Engineering of the South China University of Technology. It covers process safety, the nature of hydrocarbon explosions and fires and means of designing to minimise their impact.

Steel Bridge Group: Guidance notes on best practice in steel bridge construction - Sixth issue (P185/6) This is the 6th issue of the Guidance Notes, comprises 60 notes offering guidance on best practice in steel bridge construction.

Design of Composite Highway bridges curved in Plan (P393) This publication recognises that many highway bridges carry roads that are on a curved alignment and the supporting structure follows that curved alignment. The guidance addresses the consequences of the plan curvature on the design.

Determining design displacements for bridge movement bearings (P406) This publication provides guidance on the determination of design values of linear displacements for bridge movement bearings, for use in specifying the requirements for bearings designed and manufactured in accordance with EN 1337.

Michael Sansom, SCI, Associate Director

Michael is a Chartered Environmentalist with over 20 years postgraduate experience of environmental and sustainability work in consultancy, research and research management roles in the construction sector.

Before joining SCI, he worked for the UK Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) managing construction research projects. He then worked for a large US Consultancy working on contaminated land investigation and remediation.

He is responsible for SCI's Sustainability Division, and involved in a range of sustainable construction activities including life cycle assessment, carbon foot-printing, BREEAM assessments and operational carbon emissions assessment and reduction.

Over the last decade, he has played a leading role on behalf of the steel construction sector in the diverse and fast changing sustainable construction field.

SCI would like to welcome new members;

Stamping firm's name in concrete

Dorset based SMD Ltd is one of the UK's top names in metal decking, but what is less well known is that the company pours more than 100,000 square metres of concrete every year.

With that figure equating to the size of 400 tennis courts, it's no wonder award-winning SMD has a contract team dedicated solely to concrete projects operating from its Tower Park, Poole headquarters.

The four strong team is sales manager Scott King, estimator Rosie Sharp, quantity surveyor Max Amey and co-ordinator Will Corsie. They are augmented by the on-site group of concrete site supervisor Matt Willan Ryan Shilton and Muhammed Karami.

Decking firm spans the gap with TR220

Award-winning metal decking firm SMD Ltd has launched its latest floor product for the UK market.

The Dorset-based company is now offering the deep deck, long-span profile TR220 to augment its existing range.

This follows SMD - the company known for shaping the skyline - signing an exclusivity agreement with an overseas manufacturer for the product which can span six metres.

The TR220 product, which offers designers an alternative to pre-cast planks, is specifically designed for car parks or buildings where space uninterrupted by supporting beams or columns is required.

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