South African Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC) CEO Paolo Trinchero believes the industry continues to produce “outstanding work, [which] demonstrates its capability and expertise”.

Speaking at its yearly Steel Awards function on Thursday evening, he said there was continued perseverance in the industry, despite the many challenges facing the industry, including a muted domestic economy, policy uncertainty, the impacts of a potential global trade war and questionable capacity and spend by large State-owned enterprises.

Judging the entries for the awards was difficult, owing to the quality of the entries, says Trinchero, who said that the broad range of projects comprised residential houses, commercial projects, warehouses, factories and refurbishments.

“A number of projects displayed characteristics of an exceptional industry. They showed innovation in every process with the integration of design, detailing, fabrication and erection using modern computer numeric control equipment and software, which our industry has invested in so heavily,” he commented.

WINNING PROJECTS

Pretoria-based Times Square Sun Arena was the overall winner, while the Discovery Head Office won the category for architecture and the Shoprite Checkers Cilmore Distribution Centre won the Safintra Factory and Warehouse and the Global Roofing Solutions Metal Cladding categories.

House Matthews was the Residential Category Winner; the Rissik Street Post Office won the Safal Steel Innovation category and the West Gateway at Mall of Africa won the Light Steel Frame Building Category.

NEW FEATURES
The 2018 iteration of the Steel Awards boasted several new features, including the Steel Awards App.

A first for Steel Awards, and for the SAISC, the digital trailblazer sponsorship – by ArcelorMittal South Africa – enabled the development of a mobile app that acts as the hub for “all things Steel Awards” including news, project profiles and featured content.

“A fantastic feature of the app is that it enables the public to view and rate projects thereby casting their vote to the “people’s choice award” category,” Trinchero enthused.

The winner of this year's People's Choice Award was was Heineken, for the construction of 18 800m² warehouse area to provide a client with additional storage capacity.

Additionally, coinciding with this year’s Steel Awards, was the photo competition, which engaged with consumers through social media platform Instagram.

The photo competition entries made their way into the social feeds of over 2 000 people and was shared via the @steelawards Instagram account. The most liked images received between 50 and 70 likes, with finalists and winning photos determined by the number of likes received.

This, Trinchero explained, was a clear indication of the visual appeal of the image to a global audience.

Sponsors of the event also included Pro Roof Steel and Tube, Aveng Trident Steel, Cadex Systems South Africa, Global Roofing Solutions, Safintra South Africa, Safal Steel, ASTPM, NJR Steel, Stewarts and Lloyds, Macsteel and KRU Detailing.