The project, called E-Commerce for European Steel Construction, has won a £580 000 grant from the Department of Trade and Industry.
Costing £4m in total, the project will be developed over three years in conjunction with the institutes of steel construction in Finland, France and Spain. These bodies have also approached their governments for funding.
The SCI expects to have a prototype web site ready in six months’ time that will be tested by a user group. The site will provide technical information and advice to anyone in the supply chain. It will also offer details on design regulations in the four countries.
The SCI has not yet decided if it will charge users. All four institutes taking part are members of the European Institute for Steel in Construction. Graham Owens, director of the SCI, said: “It will be an electronic resource that the best designers will make use of. It has the potential to inform the whole construction process from client briefing through to commissioning.”
