SAISC SUBSIDIARIES : SASFA

• 0.67 million m ² of bulk insulation ( typically glasswool ),

• 0.9 million m ² of internal lining or gypsum board , and

• 0.4 million m ² of vapour permeable membrane used in external walls .

LSF building market split , 2015

■ Schools hospitals

■ Office and commercial

■ Residential

of 1.55 million m ² was produced , some 30 % higher than the previous year . Stats SA figures for buildings completed in 2014 / 15 ( excluding low cost housing ) shows that light steel roof trusses captured 20 % market share during the period .

Based on industry feedback , complete buildings ( wall panels with roof structures ), covering a total floor area in excess of 400 000m ² were built using LSF in South Africa during 2015 , marginally down on the previous year ’ s figure .

This is largely in line with the official national building statistics supplied by Stats SA , which indicate no growth in total floor area of new buildings completed during 2014 / 15 . It confirms the acceptance of LSFB by architects , engineers , builders and clients , notwithstanding the best efforts of the clay brick industry to bring the proven attributes of LSFB into question .

The total LSF market ( local and export , trusses and complete buildings ) is forecast by the manufacturers to grow by more than 10 % during 2016 , compared with 2015 . The SASFA manufacturing members report good demand for middle and upper income housing , schools and classrooms , and roofing structures for low cost housing projects .

LSFB is increasingly being used for external ( and internal ) walling of multi-storey office and commercial buildings , such as the 20 000m ² external cladding of the Mall of Africa , currently being built in Midrand .

The decision by government to in future increasingly use innovative building technologies , such as LSFB , for new schools , clinics and student accommodation , has added additional growth potential .

In view of all the above , the forecast 10 % growth in the use of LSFB in 2016 may in time prove to be conservative .

But LSFB does not only consist of steel . Based on average ratios of wall area to floor area , LSF has in 2015 resulted in a demand for

• 0.4 million m ² of external cladding ( typically fibre cement board ),

FEBRUARY – MARCH

February 29 – 5 March SASFA Training Course for Building Contractors of LSF Buildings ( Gauteng )

APRIL

SEPTEMBER 15 Steel Awards NOVEMBER

3 SAISC AGM , Country Club Johannesburg 7 POLASA AGM , Country Club Johannesburg

OTHER EVENTS / COURSES PLANNED FOR 2016 :

International Speaker Steel Academy Courses for young engineers

ENQUIRIES :

EVENTS : marle @ saisc . co . za COURSES : tiana @ saisc . co . za SASFA : john . barnard @ saol . com POLASA : kobus @ saisc . co . za SAMCRA : dennis @ saisc . co . za

26 Steel Construction Vol . 40 No . 1 2016