“Futurising” is a series of podcasts featuring ArcelorMittal experts who are deeply involved in the future of steel and its use in building projects. ArcelorMittal Dofasco is a member of the Steel Framing Industry Association.
One episode, Olivier Vassart, CEO at Steligence®, discusses steel’s role in the future of building construction, a role that includes sustainability, prefabrication and automation.
Smarter, Sustainable Future
Vassart says steel lies at the heart of a smarter, sustainable future. Steel is a critically important material for future low-carbon buildings, infrastructure, energy and mobility solutions. Its durability, versatility and recyclability make steel the perfect material for a future low-carbon circular economy, Vassart says.
Olivier Vassart, CEO at Steligence®, discusses steel’s role in the future of building construction.
“We started to look at construction from the angle of the users and designers to understand their needs,” says Olivier in the ‘Futurising’ podcast. “To see the true potential of a steel solution, we must look at the building’s interaction with the user and the environment.”
Reinventing Construction through Prefabrication
With the world’s growing population and additional requests for infrastructure, Vassart says the construction industry must be reinvented.
“The construction industry is at the verge of a big change, we must begin to make things in different ways,” says Vassart. “For steel construction, we will have far more prefabrication to reduce waste and increase the speed and ease of construction process.”
“Prefabrication will also increase the safety of a project, with more predictability on the job site,” he says.
Vassart notes that prefabrication will lead to a more sustainable method to construct buildings. He estimates that 80% of most buildings can be “copied and pasted” with modular units.
“When you embrace this philosophy, then you can look at new ways to design a building,” says Vassart. “You can also recover this 80% of the bundling if it must be dismantled.”
The material within the modular units can then be reused for a future building, which leads to less material waste overall, he says.
ArcelorMittal’s ‘Futurising’ Podcasts
Available on Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube, ArcelorMittal ‘Futurising’ podcasts focus on the future of the steel industry through conversations with company executives. Available episodes include:
- The future of steel manufacturing
- The future of mobility
- Sustainability
- The future of construction
- Achieving net zero
- Transforming technology
- A just transition
- The steel plant of the future
Automation: Construction’s Next Step
Vassart says automation will play a major role in the future of building construction.
“The next step of construction is automation, construction by robots,” he says. ”Everything that is repetitive will be done by robots, including steel fabrication.”
“Automation will offer a major advantage to a steel structure, since it will rely less on manual working,” he says. “In more modern markets, automation and robots will change how we do buildings.”
The future of the construction market will depend on our ability to try something new, to dream big, he says.
“We must go beyond our dreams, beyond what is possible to truly evolve and construct wonderful buildings in the future,” concludes Vassart.
Listen to the full 53-minute podcast.
About Olivier Vassart
Olivier Vassart joined ArcelorMittal in 2002 as a research engineer in the global research and development, structural long products department. He held several roles in global R&D, specifically in the field of applied construction research and development in Luxembourg. In 2018, Vassart was appointed chief executive officer of Steligence®, an ArcelorMittal division focused on the construction market.
Additional Resources
- SFIA’s Williams Sees Robots Being a Staple in Future Steel Framing
- Steel Framing Contractors Use Robots and Other Tech for Tough Tasks
- Cold-Formed Steel Enhances Smart Building Construction