Posted on 18 Mar 2021
The UK Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels (CARES) has signed an agreement with the Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels (ACRS) to cooperate on sustainable steel certification.
CARES’ Sustainable Constructional Steels (SCS) scheme will be used in Australia and New Zealand to assess product sustainability standards, leading to a “dramatic improvement” in steel assurance, CARES says. The tie-up follows two years of discussions between the parties on how best to utilise the scheme across the industry, from major public infrastructure projects to small commercial and residential developments.
The scheme covers bloom, billet, slab, wire rod, bar and structural steel, as well as mesh, processed bar and welded fabrication, among other products.
“The introduction of this Scheme will ensure that the public knows that steel installed in their homes, high rise commercial and residential buildings and across Australasian infrastructure meets the highest global standards,” ACRS executive director Philip Sanders says in a note seen by Kallanish.
Despite Australia and New Zealand importing significant volumes of steel to meet expanding building and infrastructure needs, existing sustainability schemes do not provide adequate verification of suppliers' claims regarding sustainability, ACRS points out. Construction will play a major role in the post-pandemic economic recovery across Australia and New Zealand, and the scheme will reassure buyers of construction steel, it adds.
The risk of misrepresentation of product performance should be significantly reduced by the introduction of independent, proven verification standards, CARES observes. Its chief executive, Lee Brankley, says: “Recent events have confirmed, more than ever, how important it is to build confidence in the provenance of safety critical products, like steel, entering the construction supply chain.”
Source:Kallanish
