Industry's move to electric arc furnaces and architects' specification of light gauge framing systems are helping to improve the sustainability of building projects
The major construction materials used today, and likely to be used for centuries to come, all have some impact on the carbon content of a building project. This is true of concrete, bricks, steel, plastics and timber.
Steel’s sustainability credentials make a compelling case for its use in construction. West Midlands-based Voestalpine Metsec is the UK's largest designer and manufacturer of cold-rolled steel systems.
The firm's light gauge steel framing solutions Metsec SFS and Metframe deliver a range of benefits, including:
- Steel is easily recoverable and is 100 per cent recyclable - SFS has a reuse and recovery rate of 85 per cent compared with just 13 per cent for timber.
- Reduction in a structure’s embodied carbon by using less steel.
- Accurate design and manufacturing processes result in virtually zero waste.
- SFS is a lighter material, reducing the environmental impact of transportation.
Steel manufacture is moving away from fossil-fuelled processing by using less carbon-intensive electric arc furnaces, which are powered by renewable energy to create a reduced carbon steel, such as Metsec Decarb.
Available for Metsec SFS, Metframe, purlins and internal non-loadbearing dry lining studs, Metsec Decarb is a true move towards a reduced carbon future for the construction industry, containing less than half the amount of carbon dioxide per tonne for the same quality of steel (as of July 2024).
The reductions in CO2 achievable with Metsec Decarb can be balanced against the 30-year London Plan offset charges and can help achieve other sustainability targets too.
Net zero carbon operations
There is little point in a building materials/systems manufacturer offering a reduced carbon product if it doesn't also reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of its own operations.
Voestalpine Metsec is committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2035. It is focusing efforts on energy saving, process optimisation, sourcing green electricity and generating its own renewable energy.
Steel might not be the first building material that comes to an architect’s mind when faced with a design brief to minimise a building’s carbon footprint, but steel - and reduced carbon steel in particular - can offer a viable solution.
Specifiers can check product/system credentials in verified manufacturer statements and EPDs for inclusion in a final project’s carbon assessment.
For more information and technical support, visit metsec.com
Contact:
0121 601 6000
metsec.SFS@voestalpine.com