The use of steel in the construction industry is not new. The need to push for steel therefore may not sound very interesting. The people of Tata Steel International ( Formerly Corus Steel) have a different story to narrate - that of how they are pushing for steel in the construction industry.

The use of steel in the construction industry is again not exactly new. What is new is the use of steel in areas that were not even dreamt of earlier. Areas like columns, floors and skeletons, which form a critical load bearing structure of a multi-story building that is conventional or unique. "There is a huge potential for greater use of steel in India. We bring with us vast experience of steel used in the construction industry," says Mr Sanjiva Verma, General Manager - South Asia, Tata Steel International (India).

From foundation and piling, circular and square hollow sections, jumbo sections, beams, flanges, ovals, bulb flats, angles to Strongbox and Hybox cold formed structural hollow sections, Tata Steel International offers a slew of structural steel products for the construction industry. And this list clearly does not include customised solutions and coatings that the company offers.

With an amount of experience and expertise coming from working on projects like Burj Khalifa tower of Dubai, Tata Steel International is already supplying structural steel to a number of projects in India from its facility at Khopoli near Mumbai.

"We felt the need to set up a facility in India after the ICICI office building project at Hyderabad," adds Verma. The ICICI building also posed challenges, and is considered a pioneering effort towards extensive use of steel, thus reducing the use of concrete.

Drawing attention to a number of projects across India, Verma explains that the scope of supplying structural steel extends across a full range of steel products. "Tata Steel International is a specialist supply chain management business unit with annual sales of 7 million tonnes of steel," he asserts.

With access to one of the world's most comprehensive range of metals, including carbon, alloy and stainless steel, Tata Steel International offers complete, managed supply solutions. This also includes hot rolled, custom designed special profiles in steel, at Skinningrove in the UK. In addition to hot rolling, the company also offers a range of processes, which reduce the amount of further work needed to make finished components.

Referring to a cost comparison study for a multi-story office building in India conducted by the Steel Construction Institute, with contributions from Arup and Davis Langdon, Verma asserts that the benefit of steel in the Indian market is secured from fast construction - the use of steel and composite decking reducing the construction duration.

Considered beneficial for constructions that have small footprints, the use of steel also calls for an amount of discipline. According to Mr Kamal N. Hadker, Managing Director, Sterling Engineering Consultancy Services, "Steel construction needs an amount of discipline, and translates into a prior price planning and design. It also calls for an early co-ordination between the architects, engineers and others involved."

While issues like excise and others, which forced fabrication of steel structures on-site have changed in the last eight years, the use of steel is only expected to go up. Yet another driver for steel is structures that depict unique architectural strength and pledge energy conservation. Stressing upon the use of steel as a time saver, Mr Srinidhi Anantharaman, CEO of Geodesic Techniques, remarks that steel also speeds up construction. It does not need the kind of testing needed for high concrete constructions. Adding that a move to save energy, and be eco-friendly is also driving the use of steel, Srinidhi avers that there is a need for scientific fabrication.

Contractors take wrong decisions of welding rather than use bolts because they are costly. Bolts make for reliable fabrication, and there is a need to identify bolts as a separate bill of material. A prime example is the use of bolts is the construction of the office building for ICICI Bank in Mumbai. No welding was done at site.

Says Hadker, "Training and education in steel design and construction is of foremost importance." Fire safety is also an important issue with steel buildings. While encased steel is a good solution; fire engineering is an important need. "There is an acute need for fire protection. Ironically, there is no fire protection on steel structure used in the Mumbai Stock Exchange building. The structure has stood the test of time for 30 years, and even two internal fires," asserts Hadker.

Anantharaman adds that steel is also recyclable (and reusable). Saving on on-site labour, high speed of construction, using structural steel, would create a need for 'ready made' design with a price tag. According to Hadker, this will induce mass production, reducing costs and increasing the application of structural steel. Increasing labour costs and challenges to use machinery like transit mixers will drive 'ready made' designs.

Stating that higher strength steel will be a driver into the future, Srinidhi Ananthraman explains that there is a need for close co-ordination between concrete contractor and steel structure fabricator. While there is a need for discipline by architects and town planners, steel, it is clear, is the only qualified material whose strength is known before using it. Steel is a super and robust material; it is also highly adaptable.

Not without a reason are there a number of steel-based constructions on the go. Examples abound in projects like Sunshine Tower (Mumbai), Eicher Corporate Block (Gurgaon), Mumbai International Airport, Cidco Exhibition Centre (Navi Mumbai), Thyagaraj Stadium (New Delhi) and MMRDA Office building (Mumbai). New developments like use of heating coils in composite steel floors for colder climes, as they reach a status that deems them ready for use, will further define the use the steel in the construction industry.