F+A calls for collaboration to avoid resource strain before 2012

Steel and concrete supplies will be strained in the years running up to the London Olympics, Franklin + Andrews has warned.

The firm predicts the 2012 Games will add 250,000 tonnes to UK steel demand, around 2.1% of the UK’s annual consumption of 12m tonnes per year. The figure came from steelmaker Corus.

The British Constructional Steelworks Association predicted that a high demand of 300,000 tonnes of steel between 2006 and 2010 as a result of the Olympic building programme.

However, F+A said the price of steel would continue to fall during this year, following a 15% cut from Baosteel, China’s largest steelmaker, which is likely to put pressure on other manufacturers to follow suit.

Concrete demand in the UK will also be stimulated by the 2012 Olympics, F+A said. “Our current best estimate, which includes works on new venues but excludes work on infrastructure, is that the Games will add about 200,000 m3 to UK concrete demand,” the report said. This is less than 1% of the UK’s total average consumption, which is just over 50m m3 per year.

F+A said in its 2012 Bulletin, a special report on the impact of the Games, that the effects would be felt most keenly in the South East, but added that the impact could be minimised if a more streamlined supply chain was adopted and if the industry collaborated. “If a reactive stance is taken, the increased supply strain on resources will leave the industry struggling to deliver on time and within cost,” the report warned.