NZ Steel Chief Executive Gretta Stephens and artist Fred Graham. New Zealand Steel has commissioned award-winning artist Fred Graham ato design a piece of public art that will reflect and recognise the company’s 50 year history and commemorate its contribution to the Waiuku community. Work has started with a ceremonial sod-turning event in October with Ngati te Ata Kaumatua George Flavell blessing the new sculpture. While Fred’s design has not yet been unveiled, it is symbolic of three key aspects;…

Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a critically important tool in quantifying the environmental impacts of structural materials and helping designers make the right choices. However, the challenge is to make sure that when comparing materials, you’re comparing apples-to-apples. We wanted to share an interesting new paper from US structural and civil engineering firm MKA, which used LCA to compare the global warming potential of four different structural materials, including glulam and steel. They were surprised with their findings. They couldn’t…

Cutting the carbon emissions of our buildings is critical to achieving New Zealand’s low emissions future – and it will require more than focusing solely on carbon as the instrument of change. A recent report highlighted New Zealand’s problem with embodied carbon in construction. But we think carbon is only part of the story and a wider approach is needed to clean up the construction industry, which includes a bigger role for New Zealand’s metal manufacturing sector. Read our insight…