Sustainability in Steel Construction
Sustainability in Steel Construction
Sustainability in Steel Construction
Nominated for the Dutch Sustainability Prize Steel 2014 (f.l.t.r.): restauration Hortus Botanicus, Leiden (Architektenburo Veldman | Rietbroek | Smit),
flexible footbridge Eventbridge (Movares Nederland, photo: N. Blekemolen) enappartmentbuilding De Karel Doorman, Rotterdam (Ibelings van Tilburg
Architecten, photo: Ossip van Duivenbode).
Scarcity of raw materials and energy, global warming, pollution of air, water and soil - our environment is under pressure. Much of that
environmental pollution is attributable to the construction and use of buildings. Opting for steel contributes to a lower environmental
impact. Buildings with a steel structure offer the prospect of significant environmental savings at all stages of their lives: from the
production of components to dismantling or reuse. klklkl
This website provides information about the possibilities, benefits and performance of steel as a sustainable building material. The information is
arranged into interesting sustainability themes such as energy, lightweight construction, recycling and reuse. In addition the website provides access to
other websites and publications covering sustainability and environmental aspects of steel and steel building applications. And of course we cover the
latest news about events, products, concepts and projects.
100% recyclable
A steel building has a long service life, but at the end of the service life the structure is just as easy to dismantle as it was to construct. After
dismantling, following some adaptation the original parts are suitable for reuse as building components in new construction projects. For example at
present 50% of all structural steel is reused as building components. The remaining proportion is used as scrap in the production of new steel.
The easy dismantling makes steel ideally suitable for temporary buildings.
Photos of projects (from top to bottom and from left to right): Outlook business centre (Schiphol) Korenbeurs, Groningen The Beacons residential
building, Zwijndrecht (top-up and renovation) Bruggebouw Zuid, Amsterdam (the office building is a bridge over a main road) De Brug office
building, Rotterdam (building over another building) Jobsveem living & working premises, Rotterdam (reuse of warehouse) HET office building,
Naaldwijk (reuse of gasholder) Central Post business centre, Rotterdam (reuse of distribution centre) Kraanspoor office building, Amsterdam (new
construction on existing foundation