The Structural Engineer's Role in Selecting Sustainable Materials: The Steel Industry's Perspective

This paper will touch upon some of the considerations a structural engineer will need to consider when designing with steel, or in many cases, with any other building material. The key is integration with other design professionals, and integration as early as possible in the design process. Current trends in several building sectors seem to be moving in the opposite direction: tight time constraints, lowest bidder practices, reduced time for design and bid, and the flooding of the market with structural and other materials all claiming high levels of "green" have not made the job easier for the structural engineer. However, with some construction types, with design-build, and with the increasing amounts and types of pre-engineered components, the structural engineer on these types of projects are seeing the opportunity for integration of their design with others in the design team, to develop synergies and symbiotic relationships between systems and materials. Several sources exist for the engineer to consider, including the soon to be published "Report on Sustainability" from the ASCE SEI Committee on Sustainability. Several of the concepts briefly touched upon in this paper will be covered in-depth in the committee's report, this will be an excellent resource: for structural engineers, and for those that have the opportunity to have structural engineers on their design team.