Building the structural steel reuse industry in Canada

By Kristen Balogh, Isis Bennet and Lucy Yan

While there is an established and mature Canadian steel recycling industry, estimated by the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries to be recycling approximately 16-18 million tonnes each year, the steel reuse industry is still a relatively niche market. The growing market in the UK has proven that reused steel is a strong contender to conventional steel, both in terms of cost and its low-carbon superiority. There are now dedicated deconstruction contractors in the UK who provide an established reused steel supply chain. As such, steel reuse represents a major opportunity for Canada to reach our own national decarbonization goals. But like anything in its infancy, there is work to be done in understanding and developing the technical, policy and economic requirements that can drive this initiative forward.

This article examines the current Canadian steel reuse industry and identifies the economic and policy tools that would facilitate the greater adoption of steel reuse in Canada. It identifies and addresses the challenges that exist in the current market, and provides solutions for how to overcome them, balancing low embodied carbon with construction time and cost.

Why target steel reuse as a climate solution?

As steel reuse has the potential to reduce embodied carbon emissions up to 97 per cent from conventional steel and has a cost-competitive potential, this emerging practice represents a serious consideration for the industry.

Based on Canadian industry averages, typical steelmaking processes create the following emissions:

• Blast Furnace + Blast Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) + Virgin Steel — 1500 kgCO2e/T
• Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) + Scrap — 410 kgCO2e/T

In comparison, at 50 kgCO2e/T, reused steel has the potential to reduce emissions by 97 per cent from BF-BOF and 88 per cent from EAF.

While the act of recycling scrap metal via EAF has decent carbon savings compared to using virgin steel + BOF, the process of melting down scrap metal to turn it into secondary steel still requires significant energy and resource input.

Therefore, regardless of how the virgin steel is currently created, the emissions reductions realized from the reused steel is dramatic. These reductions are the driver for establishing the steel reuse sector in Canada: why the industry should embrace the reuse of steel in their projects, and why the government should build incentives to help catalyze the adoption.

Steel reuse—here and now

There has been a handful of completed large scale projects that have incorporated reused structural steel. These projects include L’ Édifice Normand-Maurice, Montréal, Que., The Roy Stibbs School, Coquitlam, B.C., and the Shaw Center, Ottawa Ont. The last major public project in Toronto was in 2004 when salvaged steel from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) was reused in the development of the Student Centre on the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, delivered by Halsall (now WSP). In fact, there are historical examples such as the Centre Block parliament building reconstruction from 1916, which incorporated steel beams from the original structure following a fire.

These successful reuse projects are typically owner driven and proceed when one company is working on both the demolition of a building, and the construction of a new building within the same geographic area. When reusable steel is available, contractors will reuse the steel immediately within the new site, reinforcing that timing and schedule is a key aspect to this nascent steel reuse industry.

Despite these case studies, right now steel reuse is still in its infancy in Canada. In more general practice, steel reuse is informal and comes in the form of contractors reusing temporary support systems, such as shoring posts, and salvage yards selling as-is steel.

One noteworthy company, PDI National Salvage, doubles as a demolition contractor and an as-is reseller. As a steel stockist, they have created a market for steel reuse in Ontario, where these pieces are often used for non-structural uses and smaller scale projects such as sleepers or sheds.

Building momentum

As government agencies strengthen environmental targets for building projects in a national drive towards net-zero by 2050, steel reuse has the potential to emerge as a highly accessible and cost-effective way to further reduce the embodied carbon of a structure.

While closely watching the UK’s steel reuse industry grow, the Canadian industry has begun to establish its viability. WSP has committed to implementing steel reuse on the Centre Block Rehabilitation, which is aligned with the Government of Canada’s sustainability goals for the project. In fact, industry discourse around steel reuse picked up significantly in 2023 thanks to thoughtful discussions by industry leaders at conferences and around the board room table. The conversation, which has attracted stakeholders from across the construction industry, from owners to demolition contractors, and spurred engaging discussion on how to move this forward, resulting in the formation of an industry working group.

Developing a viable industry

To really catalyze the adoption of steel reuse, Canada needs to establish a government incentive program. The creation of a carbon credit system, providing financial incentive to the salvage steel stockists, contractors, and developers, would facilitate investment in systems and infrastructure needed to make steel reuse standard practice. Four key barriers, for which each could be overcome with a carbon credit system, to creating a steel reuse market are:

Dedicated storage space for reclaimed steel members A protected space for storing, cataloguing, and managing reusable steel.

A public “Steel Reuse Marketplace” for opportunity alignment and product visibility For reused steel to be a viable option for developers/engineers/fabricators, a catalogue of available sections should be easily accessible. This may involve setting up digital platform to view the current stock of reclaimed steel members and even check if there is a suitable ‘donor’ building that is slated for demolition.

Inspections for reused steel sections Investing in steel inspection, documentation and tracking is required to minimize risk. Identifying responsibilities and standardizing this methodology will facilitate the trade of salvaged steel.

Selective deconstruction Demolition workforce needs to widely adapt their skills and scheduling for salvaging steel members, as opposed to demolition works.

This credit system will dramatically increase the value of deconstructed steel once a market is developed, changing how a project is approached. Successful steel reuse projects thus far tend to have one owner facilitating the deconstruction and construction of a new building. These incentives will promote more stakeholders—such as owners, developers, engineers, and fabricators—to be involved in the steel reuse process, better connecting the deconstruction and new construction industries, creating a circular supply chain. As this industry builds, stakeholders will have a better understanding for what projects are a good candidate for steel salvaging.

With growth comes opportunity. With the right incentive program provided via public policy, there is a real opportunity to create a mainstream steel reuse industry in Canada.

Creating technical standards

While a government incentive program could help catalyze the industry, the expansion of steel reuse in Canada will also require buy-in from the engineering and design community. Technical leadership from industry bodies such as the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) to develop standards and guidance for the engineering community is required. It also helps create peace-of-mind for those designing with, constructing with, and buying reused steel.

Again, looking to the UK who has been leading the charge, the Steel Construction Institute (SCI) has published two key technical standards that has really spurred engineering acceptance of steel reuse: (1) P427 Structural Steel Reuse: Assessment, Testing And Design Principles, and (2) P440 Reuse Of Pre-1970 Steelwork (Supplement to P427). Covering topics from structural design recommendations to establishing testing and inspection protocols, it forms a comprehensive technical basis for the engineering and construction community to use to safely, and programmatically, incorporate reused steel in new building construction. This technical guide can also provide suggestions for typical specifications to incorporate steel reuse within projects. Developing a Canadian version of such technical guidance is critical for facilitating the reuse of structural steel. And as such, the aforementioned industry working group has dedicated itself towards doing exactly this.

Steel reuse is in its infancy in Canada, but with thoughtful policy and incentives, this tremendous carbon reduction opportunity can be expanded across the country. With a 97 per cent reduction in embodied carbon, it’s no doubt steel reuse can provide a new way for building owners to meet tightening green building standards as we get closer to 2050.

There is a long history of reusing structural steel, but we still need more awareness of this practice. We will need forward-thinking and sustainability-conscious private and public owners to identify opportunities to “harvest” steel from their own portfolio of buildings while they are planning new builds. Once they give the go-ahead to reuse steel, engineers, demolition contractors, and steel fabricators can take it from there.

Incentives are required to transition into a circular steel reuse industry.

Upfront costs to:

1. Establish dedicated storage spaces for reclaimed steel members
2. Adapt to selective deconstruction practices; and
3. Create a salvaged steel marketplace should be incentivized.

This program should also credit the ongoing costs for inspecting salvaged steel and maintaining the database of available salvaged members. These incentives should be further supported by technical standards and guidance for this growing industry.

Transitioning into a green economy is everyone’s responsibility. The construction industry has a huge impact globally through resource extraction and large volumes of waste. Within this industry, structural steel represents one of the easiest materials to transition to a circular model and steel reuse is one of the most impactful ways to reduce embodied carbon.

Kristen Balogh is a Structural Engineer with WSP in Canada.

Isis Bennet is an Engineer with WSP in Canada.

Lucy Yan is a Project Manager for WSP in Canada.

[This article appeared in the Sept/Oct 2024 issue of ReNew Canada.]

Featured image:Ottawa’s Shaw Centre, along the Rideau Canal, which incorporated reused structural steel, is one of the city’s most distinctive buildings. (Getty Images)