BCSA News and Insights
News
President's Column June 2019
14 Jun 2019
I often use this column as a soapbox for issues facing the structural steelwork sector - who wouldn't? But this month's column is all about celebration.Celebration of the incredible industry that is structural steelwork. An industry that I've worked in for 15 years. When I'm walking around the City ofLondon and look up to see one of the many great buildings I've worked on over the years, I feel a rush of pride as I tell myself - I helped create that. And happily for me, I'm able to travel the...
British Steel Statement
23 May 2019
It has been announced that British Steel has gone into compulsory liquidation. The company continues with business as usual while the Official Receiver looks for a buyer. The appointment of the Official Receiver creates a period of stability while a new buyer is sought for the trading business. BCSA's first thoughts are with British Steel employees. We are hopeful that this key part of the UK's proud industrial heritage can be saved.The UK structural steelwork sector is in good shape. Demand...
President's Column May 2019
13 May 2019
This magazine provides engineers, architects, main contractors and clients with an enormous amount of information, technical guidance, news and case studies every month. It also showcases structural steelwork and shows the industry the range of benefits that designing and building in steel can bring.Steel's high strength-to weight ratio delivers the most efficient designs and allows for the design of longer, flexible internal column-free spaces. It alsodelivers spectacular buildings and...
President's Column April 2019
08 Apr 2019
Most of us already know that the government wants construction and infrastructure projects to incorporate greater levels of offsite manufacturing. But more recently, government has said that it also wants to take a more standardised approach to design, including componentisation. They refer to this as a platforms approach.With the majority of the value add for structural steel already occurring offsite - in some cases up to 90% the structural steelwork sector is well placed to be an early...
New RQSC Steelwork Contractor Member - North Lincs Structures
15 Mar 2019
BCSA is pleased to welcome a new RQSC member - North Lincs Structures.
President's Column March 2019
11 Mar 2019
With the 2019 Spring Statement due on 13 March, and the UK currently scheduled to exit the EU at the end of March, all eyes are on the UK economy this month. But what does this actually mean for the structural steelwork sector?Every year, Construction Markets undertakes what is believed to be the largest survey of its kind, surveying specifiers and analysing the responses against government data in order to calculate the current and future consumption of structural steelwork in the UK, and the...
SCCS gains SSIP accreditation
06 Mar 2019
The Steel Construction Certification Scheme (SCCS) has become one of the first certification bodies to achieve SSIP Accreditation (Safety Schemes In Procurement) following a recent UKAS assessment. SSIP aims to streamline prequalification by driving unnecessary cost and confusion out of supplier health and safety assessment. Its core philosophy is to enable effective cross-recognition between existing schemes.
President's Column February 2019
11 Feb 2019
Main contractors often push the limits when drafting construction contracts for subcontract work, even though we have perfectly good standard form contracts in the form of NEC and JCT. I have seen pages and pages of 'z clauses' inserted into NEC contracts, and so many changes to JCT contracts that they should really be renamed. Standard clauses designed to protect subcontractors, though, simply vanish into thin air.On the other side of the table, for some subcontractors, navigating the...
President's Column January 2019
02 Jan 2019
I've written before about the benefits that accrue to clients, main contractors and specifiers from using a BCSA member for their structural steelwork. This is due to BCSA's membership assessments which cover competence, capability and recommended contract size, but also because BCSA members are always up to date with the latest regulatory requirements and best practise, and have member-only access to a wide range of education and training.Structural engineers and architects have their own...
Structural Steelwork Trade and Supply
17 Dec 2018
Recent trade actions have had no effect on the availability or supply of structural steelwork to the UK construction sector, nor on UK raw steel prices.International trade has shot into the headlines recently with Brexit negotiations at a critical stage and the US/China in a 'trade war'. The problem is that many of the articles on what this might mean for the steel sector conflate the issues and some have come to erroneous conclusions. This article sets out the facts clearly for structural...