Sustainable construction

We want our business to be sustainable in every sense of the word – a business that is both profitable and responsible. We do this by keeping our people safe, and becoming ever more efficient at providing the steel the world needs for construction, transport, manufacturing and all other aspects of everyday life.

Steel in construction is a key component to addressing the challenges of over-population, poverty and climate change.

We are developing new forms of steel that build on its intrinsic flexibility and recyclability to create durable, affordable, and energy-efficient solutions for everything from the tallest skyscrapers to the simplest low-cost homes.

When evaluating the sustainability of a building it is essential to take into account every phase of a building’s life, from the actual extraction of raw material to production, transportation to the construction site and construction operation itself through to the operational use of the building, demolition or dismantling, waste disposal and recycling.

Steel is 100% and indefinitely recyclable, without any quality loss. When recovered, it is 100% recycled. Its recycling rate (i.e. the percentage of materials being taken out of service, recovered and reused) is high but varies from product to product.

In construction, it reaches particularly high levels: 98% for beams, 65-70% for reinforcement bars, 100% for flat steel sheets and panels.

Recycled steel represents 40% of the steel industry ferrous resource in the world. ArcelorMittal is one of the biggest recyclers of steel in the world.

The use of prefabricated elements provides a large range of benefits that contribute to reduce the risks during the construction phase. Prefabricated systems and components bring ease of maintenance, extensions/modifications made possible with flexibility.

Using off-site steel construction systems reduces environmental impacts and neighbourhood nuisance on the construction site.

Water use, waste generation, dust emission, traffic and noise are considerably lower than in traditional construction.

Work site management is largely facilitated. All these advantages are especially appreciable in congested urban areas.

Furthermore, building with steel can represent 50% construction time reduction.

A high proportion of energy use is devoted to heat control, by artificially heating or cooling the building: good steel-based design or use of appropriate steel products can achieve a major reduction in this energy consumption.

• The combination of a steel structure with effective external insulation drastically reduces a building’s losses.
• The simple incorporation of renewable energy generation systems allow a very low consumption, or even positive energy buildings
• Double-skin systems and/or sandwich panels provide a thermally efficient envelope, matching latest energy standards.
• No thermal bridges due to external insulating systems.
• Airtightness of steel cladding or roofing systems eliminates air leakage that contributes to energy waste.
• Intelligent use of the thermal mass effect of steel products or components enables energy savings.
• The large range of colours or finishes of organic, metallic or even reflective coatings is suited to all existing climate models.

Steel is not only thermally efficient but brings also an excellent acoustic insulation.

The extreme durability and versatility of organic coated steel has led to its wide use in the building industry: from wall facades and roofing, to different innovative forms of suspended ceilings and lighting applications.

Furthermore, steel makes it much easier to adapt buildings to new and innovative uses.

A steel building characterised by the absence of load-bearing walls is intrinsically more versatile and flexible than other types of structure. Long spans provide comfort and well-being, capable of change over time to adapt to users requirements.

Steel is already widely used for the construction of horizontal extensions and thanks to its light weight, is fast becoming the only viable solution for vertical extensions.

Thanks to steel’s inherent mechanical properties (particularly its high strength-to-weight ratio) steel construction requires less material than traditional building technologies, helping to reduce a building’s environmental impact and conserve natural resources.

The structures can be lighter, meaning a reduced consumption of materials and conservation of natural resources (from 30% to 70%), and possible use of sites with low loadbearing capacity - soil or foundations.

Earthquakes are unpredictable in terms of magnitude, frequency, duration, and location. Steel is the material of choice for designing buildings that cope with these events because it is inherently ductile and flexible - flexing under extreme loads rather than crushing or crumbling.

Many of the beam-to-column connections in a steel building are designed principally to support gravity loads. Yet they also have a considerable capacity to resist lateral loads caused by wind and earthquakes.

Taken as a whole, these connections provide superior reserve strength and defence, increasing a building’s resistance against earthquakes and potential for repair. For residential buildings, light-gauge steel profiles allow the design of lighter structures than with concrete, and therefore are less susceptible to lateral seismic forces. Light Steel Framing has been used extensively in seismic risk regions such as Turkey, New Zealand and California.

For the past 15 years, ArcelorMittal has been developing ranges of organic coated steels which offers exceptional technical advantages and is well placed to respond to present and future environmental regulations:

• Fully tested by our R&D experts to extreme corrosion and weathering conditions, both in the laboratory and outdoors
• Innovative aesthetics for a more harmonious integration in the environment
• Reflective coatings allow more comfortable living conditions, reducing indoor temperatures by a few degrees in hot and sunny environments

For the past 15 years, ArcelorMittal has been developing a new range of organic coated steels which fulfil steel’s promise as a strong and durable building material. To be known as Nature, the new collection of steels for the building industry offers exceptional technical advantages and is well placed to respond to present and future environmental regulations. Nspired by Nature, the range does not contain hexavalent chromium or heavy metals such as lead.

ArcelorMittal’s new Nature collection of organic coated steels already complies with current and future European Union REACH regulations on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances. REACH aims to improve the protection of human health and the environment through better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances.

ArcelorMittal gives automatic guarantees on its Nature collection of organic coated steels of up to 30 years, depending on the environmental conditions at the construction site.

Our Nature collection is especially designed for environmentally responsible construction and can help designers comply with sustainability legislation and guidance such as BREEAM in the UK, LEED in the USA, HQE in France and many others.