New trends of the market: Long span, flexibility and integration of the equipment networks in the floors

Abstract

The annual production of Arcelor is 44 millions tons of steel. Amongst these 44 millions of tons, 8 are used in the construction market of the 15 earlier Members of the European Union, for industrial buildings, multi-storey buildings and bridges. In the European Union, Steel has a major share of industrial buildings in all Member States while for multi-storey buildings, the national market shares of steel are not uniform. The share of steel for the multi-storey buildings market is over 50% in the United Kingdom, Sweden or Norway and below 30% in the rest of Europe. Thus, there is a large potential for steel. This market could be gained through improved material properties or new products in order to answer the new trends of the market towards long span, service integration and flexibility. The paper addresses four topics pertaining to construction with steel: high strength steel grades, Arcelor cellular beams, floor systems, fire safety.