A Manufacturing Sector's Experience of integrating EPD alongside product, management system and responsible sourcing certification for public procurement

CARES is a Certification body operating in over 40 countries, providing several product certification schemes covering reinforcing steel and associated products for use primarily in construction, most significantly the Steel for the Reinforcement of Concrete (CARES SRC) scheme. This scheme covers the entire supply chain for reinforcing steels, including welding and the application of mechanical couplers, thereby ensuring reinforcement is correctly produced, processed and delivered to site. CARES also developed the Sustainable Constructional Steel (CARES SCS) scheme. Its objective is to provide independent certification of the sustainability performance of steel products. The assessment is based on certified management systems to ISO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001 as well as the identification, collection, auditing and reporting to CARES of performance criteria covering environmental, social, labour, business ethics and local economic impacts. The criteria were developed by a group of industry experts, and cover the supply chain from raw material purchase and the production of the steel through its processing to the delivery of the finished product. The CARES SCS scheme aims to establish a dynamic framework to improve the sustainability performance of products and provide a robust and transparent mechanism for communicating the sustainability performance of steel products to designers, specifiers and clients. The Sustainable Construction Steel scheme also allows CARES to provide annually updated industry KPIs based on audited data from its members and to set sector targets for improvements which are published in CARES Annual Sustainability Reports. A core KPI has been the “cradle to gate” carbon footprint for the production of 1 tonne steel which CARES have produced for each scheme member using a bespoke Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool developed by thinkstep using their GaBi Envision software. Since 2013, the CARES Sustainable Constructional Steel scheme has also provided an integrated approach to providing Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for steel products using environmental data from members which it has audited, again using a bespoke LCA tool in GaBi Envision developed by thinkstep. The EPD tool has been verified by BRE Global using their EN 15804 verified EPD Scheme, and to date within this EPD Scheme, 19 reinforcing steel bar producers have produced verified EPD, alongside a sector average EPD for reinforcing bar produced using the secondary production route covering 13 CARES members, and a number of EPD for structural steel and flat steel. Additionally, the CARES SCS scheme has provided 19 CARES members with certification for responsible sourcing to BES 6001, BRE Global’s Framework Standard for Responsible Sourcing Scheme for construction products. In 2015, the UK Government highlighted the need, when procuring steel for major projects, to assess the health and sustainability of potential suppliers through the supply chain, including compliance with relevant health and safety and employment legislation, and to take account of appropriate social and environmental impacts. Addressing this need for additional assurance in public procurement, this paper will provide a manufacturing sector’s perspective on the lessons learnt from its integrated approach to the production of EPD alongside product, management system and responsible sourcing certifications

Sustainability and Life Cycle Analysis Data in Construction Materials Certifications - A Case Study from the Steel Industry

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s) and other social and environmental data are used by construction material certifications to provide confidence to construction clients and public procurement processes that sustainability impacts are understood and that performance is being managed to reduce negative impacts. This paper explores the drivers behind this certification approach through the context of the CARES Sustainable Constructional Steels certification scheme and its markets. It explores the trends shown by data collection and the challenges and opportunities for improvement and differentiation. The findings suggest that requests for information from clients are getting more sophisticated and detailed, with the scope of criteria expanding to include human rights and social responsibility issues and are increasingly being used in procurement processes. The use of EPD’s to demonstrate environmental performance is becoming more common. They have shown that the difference between supplier efficiency is more important than the transport impacts and distances. Value could be gained by integrated LCA and EPD with wider sustainability information and making it accessible in other formats, such as, building information modelling systems

Conformity assessment model for mechanical coupling devices and anchors for reinforcing steel for use in concrete structure

The use of mechanical coupling devices and anchors for reinforcing steel for use in concrete structures can simplify the design and construction of reinforced concrete and reduce the amount of reinforcement required. Technical Approvals of these products by suitably qualified organisations are acceptable under Building Regulations and by major specifiers as the appropriate way of assessing non-standard or new and innovative products. Specifiers, manufacturers, traders, and customers increasingly demand certainty in the quality management of mechanical coupling devices and anchors entering the supply chain. The supply chain is extremely complex. The weak traceability systems and pressure on the supply chain to reduce cost have created the environment where risks increase. This unique and comprehensive model describes the technical and assessment requirements for the conformity of mechanical coupling devices and anchors. It covers all stages in the supply chain from the production, assembly, product performance and evaluation of mechanical properties including tensile strength, ductility, permanent elongation (slip), cyclic loading performance and fatigue performance. The essential elements of the quality management system combined with additional requirements on process control, product testing and robust installation methodology are essential and agreed by all relevant sectors of industry