The Australian Steel Excellence Awards are held every two years by the ASI and BlueScope sponsored this year’s awards. These awards showcase the versatility of steel in application and demonstrate the technical skill and collaboration required to bring these projects to life in their many forms.

Two projects featuring TRUECORE® steel were named category winners this year. The newly established category of ‘Innovative Cold Form Steel Buildings’, sponsored by TRUECORE® steel and National Association for Steel Housing (NASH), was awarded to the Grattan Street Facade (Dynamic Steel Frame, Victoria) and CSIRO Clean Lab (Austruss, NSW) was named the winner of the ‘Steel-Clad Structures’ category.

Submitted by Dynamic Steel Frame, the Grattan Street Facade project in Victoria features the innovative use of framing made from TRUECORE® steel in creating a striking, raked facade structure that could support the weight of the tiles and large windows while allowing light to enter into the building’s spaces. 

“Using our automated roll-formers and high-tech design software, we were able to design and manufacture floor joist styled frames that were shaped over the slab ends at each level of the building. This method compensated for deflections in the slab ends. At site it was a simple process of bolting on the brackets and then bolting the brackets to the frames,” said Peter Blythe.

In his submission, Peter highlighted that light gauge steel framing was able to faithfully produce the architectural intent of the project. According to Peter, “this project really showcases what structural framing made from TRUECORE® steel can achieve with the right expertise.”

The CSIRO Clean Lab facility is located in Narrabri in regional NSW. Supplied by Austruss, the project was delivered via a Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach which saw six-metre-high steel panels prefabricated in Mittagong and transported to Narrabri for onsite assembly.

Austruss supplied a prefabricated floor system, prefabricated light gauge steel wall frames, prefabricated facade panels and prefabricated roof panels - all made from TRUECORE® steel.

According to Austruss, the benefits of prefabrication for this project included reduced preliminary site costs, truck movements, on-site waste and the number of trades needed on-site - as most of the prefabrication work occurred off-site. The project timeline was able to be accelerated due to parallel procurement, and prefabrication assisted with delivery certainty and build quality.

BlueScope and the TRUECORE® steel team congratulate Dynamic Steel Frame, Austruss and all the winners of the 2022 National awards:

• Buildings Large Projects - Allianz Stadium (NSW)
• Buildings Small Projects - Memorial Drive Tennis Centre, Sunken Show Court Roof (SA)
• Steel Clad Structures - CSIRO Clean Lab (NSW) - Austruss
• Innovative Cold Form Steel Buildings - Grattan Street Facade (VIC) - Dynamic Steel Frame
• Engineering Projects - 308 Exhibition St - Sky Bridge (VIC)
  • Judges' Commendation - Central Station Concourse Roof (NSW)
• Young Designer/Detailer/Trades Person - Shannon Kieran (NT)

Further information:

• ASI Steel Excellence Awards website
• Dynamic Steel Frame website - Grattan Street Facade
• Austruss website - CSIRO Clean Lab

Images courtesy of ASI. Photographer is Peter Secheny 
Pictured are the winners of the awards for ‘Innovative Cold Form Steel Buildings’ - Dynamic Steel Frame, for the Grattan Street Facade (VIC) and ‘Steel Clad Structures’ - Austruss, for the CSIRO Clean Lab (NSW).

Austruss: Andy Nguyen, Director - Sales, Project Design and Delivery at Austruss, Jesse Scott, General Manager Austruss, Felicity Wheeler, Communications, Austruss, with Kylie Mackenzie, Manager, Marketing and Market Development at BlueScope.

Dynamic Steel Frame: Peter Blythe, Managing Director at Dynamic Steel Frame. With John Shayler, National President, NASH.

The content of this article is based on statements made by Peter Blythe and Austruss and is a reflection of their views and experience. Same/similar results are not guaranteed for each project and outcomes may vary across projects.