Irfan Hossain, 2007-2-10-101

Business Communication, BUS 231 (4)

Journal 3, 21 June 2009

STEEL BUIDLINGS THE NEXT BIG THING?

Steel Buildings are now the hot cake in the construction sector and they have now started to
make an impression in the industry. At par 16 companies construct over 100 such buildings
yearly. Steel Buildings are cost effective and also require far less time to construct. They are
light weight and also have resale value and when vulnerability is concerned its more safe
compared to RCC buildings.

In 1984 Chittagong EPZ was the pioneer in adopting steel made buildings. Now-a-days
however it has become a common site in all industrial areas. Such buildings are becoming a
common site in urban areas too, Grameenphone headquarters and Hotel Sarena are a few
examples of Steel Building. Steel Building is also known as pre-engineered building as the
buildings are engineered in a factory and then put up in pieces. Currently all construction
equipments are imported from Korea, India, Japan, China and Russia.

Around the globe Steel Buildings are very popular because of its architectural flexibility.
According to industry experts steel buildings gives them the flexibility of constructing a 150-
feet floor without having any pillars in between. A concrete building however requires pillars,
hence it adds up to the cost. It takes only six to seven months to construct a 5 storey Steel
Building compared to a regular RCC building which takes a minimum of two years. This
time benefit lures businesses to opt for Steel Building’s, especially the RMG industry. If
construction cost of a RCC (reinforced cement concrete) building is Tk 500 per square feet, it
is Tk 250-300 for a Steel Building, however cost rise with high rise buildings.

Steel Buildings are very light weight and if designed precisely its weight can be 20-30%
lower compared to RCC counterpart. Moreover Steel Buildings can be moved from one place
to another and this enables a 80% resale value of its original cost.

There are software’s available in the market that caters to the unique needs of the customer.
The software gives construction measurements once the necessary information’s such as
height and weight of the building have been plugged in. With all such benefits the prospect of
Steel Buildings are very good in the industry with a 1000 Crore annual turnover.