October 2014
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CASE STUDY Youths upskill with Metal Skills.
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DEVELOPMENTS Creating world class Kiwi businesses.
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Local steel industry tackles imports head on systems of the fabricator, and on the knowledge and expertise of engineers and welding inspectors, to assess if the steel supplied is compliant,” says Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ) Manager Alistair Fussell.
According to the National Construction Pipeline report we are on the brink of the biggest building boom in 40 years, peaking in 2016 when nearly $32 billion of construction activity is predicted. The steel industry is already experiencing increased demand – this year structural steel tonnages grew 20% to approximately 90% of 2008 peak levels.
Significantly, the SFC scheme raises the bar by providing independent, expert certification of New Zealand fabrication companies. Independent auditing body HERA Certification has been established to audit and certify steel fabricators to ensure they have both the welding and the fabrication quality management systems in place to consistently produce fully compliant steelwork.
So the launch in September of the Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC) scheme is particularly timely and marks a major milestone for an industry quality initiative that has been two years in the making. The SFC scheme reduces risk for specifiers; it ensures participating fabricators not only manufacture product to the specified quality standard, but that they have appropriate personnel and quality management systems in place representing international best-practice.
Mr Fussell says the scheme creates an important point of difference for locally fabricated steel compared with imported prefabricated steelwork. “The recent boom in construction activity, centred on Christchurch and Auckland, has seen an increase in the amount of imported prefabricated steelwork entering New Zealand. However, there have been cases where paperwork has been missing or the steelwork does not meet the required specification, leading to expensive and time-consuming testing to
“As with many construction materials, the current compliance regime for structural steelwork relies, for the most part, on self-inspection and self-certification. This approach is dependent on the expertise, ethics and quality
First eight New Zealand fabricators to qualify for Steel Fabricator Certification (L to R): Whakatiki Engineering; D&H Steel; MJH Engineering; Jensen Steel Fabricators; John Jones Steel; Red Steel; Chapman Engineering; Eastbridge.
demonstrate compliacnce and, in some instances, remedial work. The upshot is costly project delays. “The SFC scheme, on the other hand, provides procurers and specifiers, such as engineers, architects and contractors, with certainty of product quality and significantly reduced compliance risk.” Based on a risk approach, the SFC comprises four Construction Categories – CC1-CC4. It enables specifiers to select a level of quality management appropriate to how safety critical the component will be in the construction. The level of quality management required for a farm shed, for example, will be much less than that required for a public building such as a large stadium. As well as the whole building, the CC-rating may
apply to individual elements within the structure. For instance, the seismic load-resisting system for a building may be higher than the gravity portion of the structure. Developed by the Heavy Engineering Research Association (HERA) and Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ), SFC is based on the highly regarded European system, which has been modified for local design and construction practice. Initially the SFC scheme will be voluntary, relying on market forces to drive its uptake. SCNZ and HERA have worked with the Australian Steel Institute to develop a Code of Practice in the hope that it is adopted as an AS/ NZS standard, integrating the SFC’s technical and quality requirements into a regulatory framework.
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