About
SteelConstruction.info is the free encyclopedia for UK steel construction. This website is being actively maintained and developed by BCSA, Steel for Life and the SCI acting in partnership. It draws together a wealth of information and advice available from the steel construction sector and presents it in a simple to use, searchable, and familiar wikipedia format that hopefully appeals to a broad range of construction professionals.
At the heart of the new site are over one hundred interlinked articles written by industry experts and external consultants on topics as diverse as cost planning, life cycle assessment, fire engineering and the key issues involved in the design of schools and hospitals. These articles act a roadmap to further information through multiple links to detailed resources available from the partners as well as other external sources.
[top]Features
The ‘Main page’ comprises six main areas within a template that is common to every page:
[top]Sector articles
These are introductory articles that summarise the steel design and construction issues in particular sectors, including multi-storey offices, single storey industrial buildings, the retail, healthcare and education sectors and bridges.
[top]Topic articles
These are introductory articles on key topics such as cost, sustainability, design, fire, corrosion protection, and construction.
Both the Sector and Topic articles contain extensive links to more detailed articles and external resources.
[top]Quick Links
The Quick links section provides direct links to Steel for Life sponsor details, searchable directories of BCSAs steelwork contractor and product supplier membership, and both the SCI and BCSA online bookshops. A direct link to the New Steel Construction magazine website also enables users to keep up to date with all the news from the sector.
[top]CPD, Events and Training
A wide range of online CPD topics is available covering subjects such as design to the eurocodes, sustainability, fire engineering, portal frames and corrosion protection. Users can read the relevant articles, watch the training videos and finally take a test to check their learning. A certificate can then be downloaded as proof of completion.
This area of the site also provides external links to relevant events and training courses provided by the partners including:
[top]What's new
This area contains outline details and links to new content and features that we hope will be of interest to users. Refreshed on a regular basis, the intention is to highlight new material as soon as it becomes available.
[top]Featured Projects
Featured Projects is a gallery of recent steel construction projects that link to fully hyperlinked project reports and case studies, presenting an alternative way to delve into the breadth and depth of the content of this website. The projects listed are updated regularly as new and interesting construction projects are built.
The site will continually evolve with information being updated and new articles and project case studies being added on a regular basis.
[top]Functionality
The ‘Template’ that is common to all pages provides a frame for the page content with a number of features to aid functionality and use of the site:
- Logos of the steel industry partners linked to their respective homepages
- Main page icon to return users to the Main page
- Search facility
- Log in / create account facility
- A set of side bar menus for:
There is also a set of footer tabs providing links to the Privacy Notice of the website, information about Cookies, the Disclaimer, a useful Sitemap listing the contents and structure of the website, and a Contact page containing contact details for the BCSA, Steel for Life and the SCI.
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Navigation within an article is generally facilitated by scrolling up or down the page. Alternatively, the ‘Contents’ list at the start of each article may be used to jump directly to a section of interest by clicking the appropriate section heading. Once there, clicking the ‘[top]’ link at the start of each section will take you back to the top of the article.
‘References’ within the body of the text are indicated by a superscript number in brackets, e.g. [1]. Clicking the reference number will take you to the relevant full reference within the References section of the article. Clicking the up arrow adjacent to the full reference will take you back to the correct place in the body of the text.
Links are indicated by blue text, and take you to pages where further information can be found, or down the article to a list of ‘Resources’ that can be downloaded, or to a section with ‘External links’ to other websites where relevant information can be found.
[top]Search facility
The powerful search engine provided on SteelConstruction.info is Google Custom Search, which should be familiar to most users. Users may search for individual words, complete phrases or a random collection of relevant words. Google Site Search then searches all page content on the website and also the linked PDFs, and presents the results in order of priority in the normal, familiar Google format.
[top]Key Resources
This is a list of key downloadable resources, which enables users to quickly find popular guidance documents such as the Blue Book, Green Books and SCI Eurocode design guides.
[top]Hot Topics
This is a list of current hot topics that link to the most popular articles covering the subjects in question. Also included in this list is a link to the Steel construction news page, which contains recent news items, project reports and magazine supplements.
[top]Tools
[top]Printable version
The ‘Printable version’ function creates a PDF document for the page content currently being viewed. This can then be saved by the user in their electronic file system, printed off, or emailed to colleagues who may be interested in the content.
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The ‘Share’ menu provides links to the social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-in to enable users to pass on useful information to their colleagues. There are also icons at the top of the page template that link through to our Twitter, Facebook and Linked-in pages and YouTube channel to enable users to keep up-to-date with developments on the site (i.e. new content, and events etc.)
[top]Log in / Create Account
The ‘Log in / Create Account’ facility allows users to sign up for, and manage, a free subscription to NSC magazine