Steel Construction Vol 40 no 6 - International Steel Structures | Page 39

SAISC SASFA
focusing on the designers, building

Technical

Accreditation

contractors and building inspectors.

• SASFA again assisted final year
Engineering students to do research into
various aspects of LSFB.

Preparations have been made to start the

• A consultant was appointed to carry out
research into the energy efficiency of
an ETICS clad office building, compared
with a masonry building.

Committees

• The 6-day LSF training course for
building contractors was presented in
Alberton and Cape Town, to a total of 27
attendees. This brings the total number
of people who successfully completed
the course to 342.
We also had students from Swaziland,
Namibia and Zimbabwe attending,
illustrating the growing interest in LSFB in
Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The SANS 517 Code course aimed at
architects, QS’s and Engineers, Property
Developers etc, and
The Cold-formed Steel Design course for
Engineers were presented in Johannesburg,
Durban and Cape Town (127 attendees).
• Annual lecture to University of Pretoria
final year building science students was
delivered to a group of 60 students.

Codes and standards
• Work on a comprehensive revision of
SANS codes and standards has largely
been completed:
• SASFA is represented on the SANS
10400L (Roofs) committee of the SABS,
to ensure that LSF is correctly covered in
the code revisions.
• SASFA is represented on the SABS
committee SC98C, which is responsible
for all standards dealing with steel or
aluminium in building and construction.
• Thorough revision of SANS 517 is under
way, and should be completed by year
end.

competency assessment of LSF builders.

SASFA’s Exco,Technical and Training
committees met on a bi-monthly basis,
involving 24 industry specialists from 18
member companies.
Quality monitoring
SASFA was approached by a few clients
who were not satisfied with their LSF
building projects. Technical aspects of the
projects were investigated and remedial
measures discussed with the builders.
Industry statistics
SASFA undertook its annual industry survey
to quantify LSFB activity in Southern Africa.
Demand for LSF showed an increase of 10%
in 2015 compared with the previous year,
with the growth being in roof structures,
rather than in complete building systems.
This is an excellent achievement, in view of
the 8% decline in building activity reported
by STATS SA.
Membership and finances
New membership applications by 6
companies were received and accepted,
while 8 members were suspended due to
unpaid membership fees – an indication
of the dire conditions prevalent in the
building industry. A project was launched
to analyse SASFA’s value proposition to its
members.
SASFA’s actual income was 2% below
budget, more than offset by a 13%
reduction in expenditures.

OPPOSITE PAGE BELOW LEFT: Johannesburg
audience attending the Cold-formed steel design
course to SANS 10162:2, presented by SASFA in
collaboration with University of Stellenbosch.
OPPOSITE PAGE BELOW RIGHT: Training course
for LSF building contractors, presented in Cape
Town. The students erect the structure as part of
the 6-day course.
ABOVE LEFT: Joint winner of the LSF category at
the 2016 Annual Steel Awards function: Mbabane
Hospital Clinic, built using LSF.
LEFT: Joint winner of the LSF category at the 2016
Annual Steel Awards function. The external walls of
the Mall of Africa was supplied using LSF end Etics
external cladding.

Steel Construction Vol. 40 No. 6 2016 37