Antony Schillaci – Manager, Marketing & Market Development at BlueScope
Is it time to rethink the way we build?
Against a backdrop of global material shortages, increasing labour costs, affordable housing shortages, and rapidly changing climate, the Australian construction industry must continually adapt to provide solutions that are fit-for-purpose. Light gauge framing made from TRUECORE® steel may offer a versatile solution to tackling some of these industry challenges.
Steel is a key enabler for a construction industry seeking rapid efficiency and
non-combustible materials that can be supplied locally to build homes, apartments, schools, and commercial buildings.
“Framing made from TRUECORE® steel can be prefabricated offsite, to support minimising waste and driving efficiencies onsite. Light gauge steel framing is strong, straight and true and dimensionally accurate which assists with improving the efficiency of installers and follow-on trades onsite.” said Antony Schillaci, BlueScope’s Manager, Marketing & Market Development.
NASH (The National Association for Steel Framed Housing) has estimated the number of Light Gauge Steel fabricators in Australia has more than doubled in the last 5 years, providing a key indicator of the building industry’s broader adoption of Light Gauge Steel Framing as a viable material alternative.
BlueScope releases new Environmental Product Declarations
BlueScope has recently published a range of new Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) providing transparency for the environmental impacts of its products, such as TRUECORE® steel.
New EPDs include products such as TRUECORE® steel, COLORBOND® Coolmax® steel, ZINCALUME® steel, DECKFORM® steel and Low Glare DECKFORM® steel – and cover a range of common base metal thicknesses, and some EPDs, including TRUECORE® steel, also include additional information about the roll forming process, to provide indicative results for the final formed product.
This added information supports the industry by providing more detail relevant to the actual products that are specified and purchased and aligns with industry demand for greater transparency.
“BlueScope EPDs are expressions of our strong commitment to environmental transparency and reflect our focus on product stewardship and broader commitment to sustainability. EPDs are increasingly sought after by customers due to their robust and credible third-party verified information.
“Steel lends itself to structures that are designed for long life, resilient and flexible to accommodate multiple future reuse options without reinvestment in structural alteration and refurbishment and designs where end-of-life considerations are key, such as designing for disassembly and reuse,” said Antony.
BlueScope’s range of EPDs can be used to support life cycle assessments, including embodied or upfront carbon, for end uses such as buildings, and can be used as a source when using rating tools such as Green Star.
BlueScope’s range of EPDs can be downloaded online via steel.com.au/epds