The Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (Saisc) is concerned about the number of future infrastructure projects in South Africa, as a lack of projects will impact on the revitalisation of the country’s struggling steel industry.

Saisc CEO Paulo Trinchero tells Engineering News that, while inconsistent electricity supply is a significant concern for steel fabrication companies and impacts negatively on productivity, the real concern for these companies is securing contracts that will help local steel fabricators develop. “Steel fabricators can manage production disruptions, but they cannot control when new projects [will be] awarded,” he says.

He further notes that there is a direct correlation between gross domestic product (GDP) growth and steel consumption. “Steel consumption is negative when GDP growth is below 2%; however, megaprojects, particularly infrastructure projects, positively impact on growth in the steel industry, even if the GDP growth rate is lower than 2%.”

South Africa’s GDP growth rate was 1.4% in the third quarter of 2014.

Trinchero notes that Saisc is taking a proactive approach to the current lack of project work for South African steel fabricators by looking for opportunities beyond the country’s borders, which was traditionally the sole domain of steel joint venture marketing consortium the International Steel Fabricators (ISF) of South Africa. Saisc and the ISF have been working together since 2014 to secure infrastructure and smaller commercial projects beyond South Africa’s borders.

“Often, large projects, such as infrastructure projects, are funded by foreign investors. In Africa, Chinese companies fund a significant number of infrastructure projects, limiting the amount of African companies that are able to participate in multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects,” asserts Trinchero.

He adds that smaller projects, such as the construction of warehouses, shopping centres and hospitals, are much easier for South African companies to gain access to, owing to the smaller amounts of funding required for these projects: “I believe we will have a competitive advantage in this space.”

Meanwhile, Trinchero explains that West African oil and gas projects have been a significant target market for many Saisc members. However, the declining oil price has stalled the progress of many potential projects in the region, resulting in Saisc and its members considering new markets, such as modular steel-framed buildings and bridges, to remain competitive.

Saisc is developing its own modular steel-framed office building system, which has successfully undergone several physical tests to determine the effectiveness of the vertical braces in carrying lateral loads, with and without wind-induced motion or building sway.

A full-scale test unit of the system has been erected at Saisc steel fabrication member Tass Engineering, in Gauteng, to undergo the remaining tests – which involve the vibration characteristics of the floor – and to establish the system’s resistance to fire.

Currently, there is no indication of when the system will undergo these tests, as Saisc requires funding for the project to progress. To date, Saisc has applied for grants from the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Science and Technology, but has not received any funding yet.

The multistorey steel-frame system allows for the steel frame of a building to be constructed in modules. The entire floor is preassembled and erected in one piece, as opposed to several pieces being erected individually, which makes the modular approach less time consuming.

Further, the system design allows for all building services, such as air conditioning, ducting and electronics, to be incorporated into the floor zones of each level of the frame.

Trinchero tells Engineering News that Saisc is investigating the potential use of lightweight flooring solutions, such as modular fibre cement boards, which would eliminate the need to pour concrete, further reducing the time it takes to complete a building and limiting the amount of raw materials needed on site.

“The modular approach could possibly reduce the amount of time needed to erect a steel-frame building by at least 50%, compared with traditional approaches,” he argues.

Further, as all modular components are uniform, quality controls can be conducted during the fabrication process, instead of on site. “The problem that the local construction industry currently faces is that it is an environment requiring workers to focus on a single task at a time. There needs to be a concerted move towards manufacturing quality-uniform products that are produced in the most efficient manner to make the construction process faster and more cost effective,” Trinchero concludes.