In this very unusual year we will be holding our virtual Annual Event and AGM on 6th November, starting at 11:00. Guest speakers from WSP and Severfield have very kindly offered to talk to us about some recent projects, including a large-scale modular scheme at Gatwick airport and Shard Place in London Bridge.

Presentations on SCI will include a brief overview of SCI as an organisation, highlighting how much we have evolved from the days when we received significant guaranteed funding from the national steel producer (the company formerly known as British Steel) in order to grow the market share for steel in construction. That source of funding has all but disappeared, as has the need for growth given steel's current market share. New offerings and new sources of funding are needed to maintain our relevance, and that market position for steel. A series of 'flash' presentations from senior SCI staff members will highlight some recent activities that reflect current issues and drivers for steel construction in the UK - higher strength materials, reusable products, certification and accreditation of proprietary products, and twin-skin composite alternatives to reinforced concrete.

Register for the event here.

Caledan Limited has successfully completed the SCI Assessed process and have therefore achieved SCI Assessed status for their SFS infill wall system and design process. Caledan are based in South Wales and design, manufacture and supply steel framing systems.

During the assessment process SCI worked closely with Caledan to ensure their design procedures and technical information was in accordance with the relevant design standards and included all the necessary structural design checks. Despite often being regarded as non-loadbearing, there are still significant structural design aspects to consider such as resistance to wind load, potential for lateral torsional buckling, design of structural openings, deflection head detailing and its design resistance. Guidance on infill and light steel external wall systems is provided in SCI publication ED017 which is available to SCI members as a free download.

Following the completion of the process Caledan have received their SCI Assessed report, certificate and logo, and are listed on the SCI Assessed website along with the other companies and products with SCI Assessed status.

For further information on SCI Assessed or light steel construction please contact Andrew Way at SCI.

Fusion celebrates 20 years in offsite construction

Fusion Building Systems is celebrating 20 years of offsite construction excellence, building more light steel frame superstructures over the past two decades than probably any other supplier.

Fusion was founded in Ireland in 2000 when a construction entrepreneur wanted to find a way of delivering high quality housing at speed, with less reliance on labour and the weather. Then in 2010, the Company was acquired by Salvesen Insulated Frames Ltd, relocated to Northampton and since then, has retained its position at the forefront of the offsite construction sector.

Over the past two decades Fusion has designed, engineered, manufactured and built light steel frame superstructures for more than 25 schools, 2,000 care home beds, 3,000 residential housing units, 4,000 apartments and 12,000 student beds. Its client portfolio has also grown exponentially, and its offsite excellence has been recognised by such prestigious award programmes as Construction News and the Offsite Construction Awards.

Now as the construction industry begins to embrace a digital future and the more widespread adoption of MMC and design for manufacturing principles, Fusion continues to drive change. Its Directors are proud to sit on the boards and steering committees for a number of influential Government and industry bodies.

Fusion Director Mike Fairey, said: "I'm proud of our legacy in the offsite sector. We've built numerous structures across many sectors and continue to use the knowledge we've gained to improve our products and processes. We've seen a lot of change over the past 20 years, though it's probably only since around 2015 that we've seen offsite methods of construction really begin to push towards centre stage for the construction industry as a whole."

Fusion's work over the past 20 years has included urban regeneration projects, historical renovations, off-the-shelf school construction system and product focused 'brand' solutions for some of the UK's largest contractors and developers. Most recently, Fusion has completed a 2,000 bed student accommodation project for Balfour Beatty at The University of Sussex believed to be one of the largest Light Steel Frame projects undertaken.

Mike continued: "This is an extremely exciting time to be in the offsite sector. We're now talking about the role technology has to play as part of the 'Golden Thread' for Modern Methods of Construction, and the prospect of shifting the construction industry's mindset from a project-led approach to one which is centred on the product. These are changes I think we'll be seeing accelerate over the next five years, paving the way for our next 20 years in the industry."

The new Advisory Desk service emails sent this month included;

Advisory Desk Note - AD 428
Draft Guidance: Lateral and torsional vibration of half-through truss footbridges

Advisory Desk Note - AD 452
Errata in P385: Design of Steel beams in torsion

If you are an SCI Sole Trader or Corporate Member and not receiving these emails alerts go to the SCI Information Portal and in your Profile click on notifications/alerts and select the notifications you require.

All the Advisory Desk Notes and Questions and Answers together with other technical resources are all available at all times on the SCI Information Portal.

For SCI Sole Trader and Corporate members, SCI offers support through our Advisory Desk Service. For questions asked which we feel are pertinent to the wider member audience we publish anonymously the questions and answers.

Where some questions relate to SCI Publications we publish the question and answers in Connect.

This month our published question is about; Baseplate welds for nominally pinned bases

Question: When designing a nominally pinned base, how should the weld to the baseplate be designed?

Please see the answer to this Advisory Question/Answer - Ref No 7151-20 and all Advisory questions on the SCI Information Portal.

The Advisory Desk Service is for SCI Corporate and Sole Trader Members advisory@steel-sci.com | +44 (0) 1344 636525

SCI Online Event

SCI Annual Event and AGM
6 November 2020
11:00-13:30

For the first time and due to COVID restrictions this event will be held online. Our guest speakers this year are from WSP and Severfield, who will feature recent projects of particular interest. SCI presentations will cover a range of topics which highlight our current relevance to the sector, considering high strength steel, re-use of products, twin-skin composite solutions to replace reinforced concrete, and third party accreditation and certification.

This event is free for all to attend

Register to attend

SCI Online Training Courses

Steel Connection Design Course

This online course is delivered in 3 sessions
Part 1 - 17 November
Part 2 - 19 November
Part 3 - 24 November

Each session will run from 10:00-12:00

This course is for designers and technicians wanting practical tuition in steel connection design. The course concentrates on the design of nominally pinned connections, in accordance with BS EN 1993-1-8, considering vertical shear and tying.

The Eurocode approach to the design of moment resisting connections will be discussed, anticipating that software will be used for the design of these connections. Bracing connections, bases, splices, welded joints and non-standard connections will all be covered. The Eurocode rules for ordinary and pre-loaded assemblies will be discussed. Critical design checks and rules of thumb will be identified, for preliminary connection sizing.

For more information and to booked this course click here.

Next SCI Member webinar is:

Analysis and design of structures against explosions
10 November - 12:30-13:30

This 1 hour webinar will cover the analysis and design of structures against explosions.

Register here to view this webinar

For a list of webinars, online public courses visit the
SCI Information Portal

We may have to postpone courses and we will contact you if the course you have registered for is running on the date advertised or provide you with a new date in the future.

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