8.Sustainability
Steel is the leading construction material for sustainability, offering exceptional environmental, social and economic benefits. The balance between the three elements sees steel deliver a sound sustainability case and contribute to the circular economy.
Environmental benefits
Steel can be multicycled endlessly with no detrimental effect on its properties. When a steel-framed building is demolished, its components can be reused or returned to the steelmaking process to create brand new components. In the UK, 96% of steel construction components are recovered in this way. Globally, recycled steel accounts for 50% of new steel production.
Composite steel floors are given the highest (A+) environmental rating in the BRE’s Green Guide to Specification.
Because steel structures are significantly lighter than concrete equivalents, they require less extensive foundations, which reduces the environmental impact of the build. If steel pile foundations are used, these can be extracted and recycled or reused at the end of a building’s life, leaving no waste material on site.
Long-span steel solutions provide flexible clear span spaces that future-proof a building, offering an increased lifetime. Steel structures are durable and can be readily adapted, improving their economic viability as they can easily be updated or modernised.
The steel sector has developed a Sustainability Charter for steelwork contractors. Companies demonstrate their commitment to wide-ranging sustainable practices, and submit to an annual independent review of their commitment to the charter. A growing number of steelwork contractors are assessing (and reducing) their carbon footprint. The sector has developed a tool to assess the carbon emissions of steelwork contractors in a standardised manner and recent studies have enabled an average carbon footprint for steel fabrication to be derived.
A carbon footprint tool for buildings is available.
Many parts of the supply chain, including raw material suppliers, steel manufacturers, steelwork contractors and surface coating manufacturers have ISO 14001 environmental management systems accreditation. Also, increasingly, steelwork contractors are getting accreditation to BES 6001, the BRE's framework standard for responsible sourcing of construction products