• Contact us
  • Steel Construction Certification Scheme
  • Members Area
  • Login

    Lost your password? Register
BCSA Master LogoBCSA Master LogoBCSA Master LogoBCSA Master Logo
  • About us
    • BCSA Group of Companies
    • Our Team
  • Member Directories
    • Buildings Directory
    • Bridgeworks Register
    • Industry
    • Corporate
    • Benefits of using a BCSA member
    • Sustainability Charter
      • Sustainability Charter Members
    • BIM Charter
      • BIM Charter Members
  • Join BCSA
    • Membership Categories
      • Steelwork Contractor Buildings
      • Steelwork Contractor Bridgeworks
      • Industry
      • Corporate
    • Member Benefits
  • Resources
    • COVID-19
    • Process and Technical
      • Bridges preliminary design
      • Coatings Advisory Service
      • Committees and Working Groups
      • National Structural Steelwork Specification
      • Steel Industry Guidance Notes (SIGNS)
      • Sustainability
        • SteelConstruction.info – Sustainability
        • Steel construction – Carbon Credentials
        • Sustainability Charter
        • Carbon Footprint Tool
        • Bridges Carbon Calculator
      • Steel Construction Building Information Modelling (BIM) Charter
      • Webinars
    • Law and Contracts
      • Annotated Contracts
      • Contractual Handbook
      • Construction Act Amendments
      • Helplines and Other Schemes
      • Insurances
      • Model Letters and Other Documents
      • Minimum Standards of Contract
      • Sub-contract Terms and Conditions
    • Commercial
      • Cost information
      • Daywork rates survey results
      • Economic reports
      • IR35 Off-Payroll Working
      • Prices and Lead Times
      • Reverse VAT
      • State of Trade
    • Health and Safety
      • ‘Be Selfish Be Safe’ Information Sheets
      • Behavioural Based Safety
      • Construction Skills Setting Out Video
      • Electromagnetic Fields
      • Erection Guides
        • BCSA Guides
        • Metal Deck Health and Safety Guides
      • Health and Safety Information
      • Lifting Operations
      • Loading and Unloading Vehicles
      • Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs)
      • Office, Factory and Site
      • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
      • Risk Assessments
      • Safe Site Handover Certificate
      • Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP)
      • About Tool Box Talks
        • Tool Box Talks
      • BCSA CHAS Discount offer
    • Training
      • CRAFT Certificate Introduction to Module Learning
      • CRAFT Structural Steelwork Fabricator Welder
      • CRAFT Metal Decking Installer
      • CRAFT Structural Steel Detailer
      • CRAFT Surface Treatment
      • Bolting Competency
      • Welding Competency
    • Steel for Life
    • Structural Steel Design Awards
      • Award
        • Tintagel Footbridge, Cornwall
        • 52 Lime Street, London
        • The Curragh Racecourse Redevelopment, Kildare
        • Bath Schools of Art and Design
        • A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme
        • Brunel Building, London
      • Commendation
        • Mary Elmes Bridge, Cork City
        • The Post Building, London
        • Centre Building, London School of Economics
        • Waterloo Station Roof Infill
        • One Bartholomew, Barts Square, London
        • The Standard Hotel, London
      • Merit
        • The Gravity Bar, Guinness Storehouse, Dublin
        • Scarborough Footbridge, York
      • National Finalists
        • One Bank Street, Canary Wharf
        • Barton Square, intu Trafford Centre, Manchester
        • Boeing GoldCare Aircraft Hangar, Gatwick Airport
        • The Balfour, Kirkwall, Orkney
        • National Infrastructure Laboratory, University of Southampton
        • The Wave, Coventry
        • Drake Circus The Barcode, Plymouth
        • Bridgewater Place Wind Amelioration Scheme, Leeds
      • Judges 2020
      • SSDA 2019
        • Award
          • Wimbledon No.1 Court
          • Taplow Riverside Footbridge
          • Coal Drops Yard, London
          • Tombola HQ, Sunderland
          • Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, New Stadium
        • Commendation
          • Battersea Arts Centre
          • Fen Court, London
          • Chiswick Park Footbridge
          • Ingenuity House, Birmingham
          • Neuron Pod, London
          • Royal Academy of Music, London
        • Merit
          • The Macallan Distillery
          • G W Annenberg Performing Arts Centre
          • Greatham Creek Seal Hide, Middlesbrough
          • Telford Central Footbridges
        • National Finalists
          • 160 Old Street, London
          • Aga Khan Centre, London
          • Ely Southern Bypass
          • Project Mint at The O2
          • Kettner’s Townhouse & Soho House Greek Street
  • Events and Meetings
  • News
  • Shop
  • Members Area
  • Reverse VAT
  • BREXIT
  • COVID-19
  • HS2 Collaboration Hub Webinar
0
  • Home
  • News
  • General
  • President’s Column (March 2018)

President’s Column (March 2018)

27th March 2018

I’m hearing a lot in the press about new methods of construction, with terms like ‘offsite construction’ and ‘design for manufacture’ coming up more and more.

However, many people forget that steel framing is the original offsite framing material and is already delivering a huge range of advantages to clients.

Fabrication of individual steel pieces takes place offsite under controlled, highly regulated and safe factory conditions, where the use of digital design and leading-edge fabrication systems deliver precision-engineered components with minimum waste.

Steel components are further pre-assembled or fabricated into modules either offsite or at the site at a low level. Structures are often prototyped or trial built offsite to ensure a perfect fit when the fabricated steel modules undergo final assembly on-site.

Already many steel structures have the M&E incorporated offsite – some examples include motorway gantries with the lighting and digital signage already fitted, transfer bridges for large manufacturing plants, and even the risers in high-rise buildings. This means that the majority of the value add for structural steel occurs offsite – in some cases up to 90%.

The benefits delivered by an offsite steel programme are those that the government is now looking to extend through the rest of the construction sector.

A faster on-site construction programme means government construction targets can be met more easily, the programme will be less affected by adverse weather, and a shorter on-site programme is more cost-effective.

Fewer people are required on-site which helps to mitigate issues around skills shortages, and improves on-site safety. The need to work at height is reduced due to the majority of the work taking place offsite, also providing a skills and safety benefit.

Offsite steel manufacturing occurs in a controlled environment with factory production control and the adoption of automation ensuring consistency and reliable quality, and creating scalability.

Digital design for manufacture and assembly, including full Level 2 BIM, has created new skills in the sector. And the stable long-term nature of jobs in a steel fabrication factory assists in the training of a specialist workforce.

So what’s next? The structural steelwork sector is not standing still and continues to invest in modern automated plant and equipment. With the sector having adopted Level 2 BIM and able to undertake digital design for manufacturing, it is now looking at implementing digitisation throughout the complete supply chain.

But for the sector to continue to move forward, clients and main contractors need to adopt new procurement models to drive earlier supply chain engagement. This will create further efficiencies for offsite manufacture, in particular opportunities for further offsite integration between sub-trades.

British Constructional Steelwork Association
4 Whitehall Court, Westminster, London SW1A 2ES
email: postroom@steelconstruction.org | Tel: 020 7839 8566
BCSA logo Supporting the UK Steelwork Contractors for over a Century
© All Rights Reserved BCSA – The British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd.

This website uses cookies to improve your user experience. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our privacy policy. I accept