The cost of compliance

Emirates Steel says UK Cares approval gives them a competitive edge over non-certified companies.

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Major construction projects are some of the largest and most complex investments organisations face.

From initial plans to hand-over dates, contract negotiations and material supply, to final developer sign-off, the process is a protracted and complicated one, made all the more difficult with additional pressures placed on project managers to ensure buildings remain on spend, time and compliance targets.

Monitoring compliance is itself a complex task: ensuring the project remains true to the contract and that all changes made filter through to the right people is one matter, while the procurement of materials – and ensuring that they meet required standards is another major issue that project managers and developers face.

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It’s a task made trickier in this region by the fact that there are no unilateral building codes or standards in practice across the GCC.

There are plans to implement a set of statutes in the UAE, but quite when that will happen is a matter for debate. What isn’t up for debate is that the potential for companies to cut corners and save costs by using products that may not be quite up to the job is there, and that the problem is a concern for the future of construction throughout the region.

One of the more troubling areas is in the production of steel rebar for concrete reinforcing. Concrete’s compression properties are outstanding, but it lacks corresponding tensile properties to give it the strength to be used for load-bearing spans, without the use of steel reinforcing bars, or rebars.

The problem is, cheap and unproven rebar is notoriously easy to manufacture: you just need a mould and a supply of molten steel to produce something that resembles the real thing. It doesn’t take a structural engineer or metallurgist to work out that not all steel rebar is created equal, and that using rebar from an unqualified source is an exceptionally risky business.

“They say that in concrete, you bury your mistakes,” says Ben Bowsher, executive director of UK Cares, the British based certification body primarily concerned with compliance of reinforcing and pre-stressing steels for construction.

“And the temptation is certainly there, during lean times, to use products that save you money. I’m not saying that I’ve seen examples of it here in the UAE, but the temptation is always there, and it’s worrying,” Bowsher said. “I’ve even heard the term ‘blending’ used ¬ and that’s just as worrying. Mixing material from a known source with rebar of an unknown quality is just as troubling because you never know where it’s going to be used.”

Certification is simply a risk-reducing tool. It eliminates the need for procurement managers and purchasing officers to check in to the backgrounds of their suppliers or have products individually testing for quality or performance.

UK Cares certification includes technical assessment at every step of the production and supply process to ensure rebar not only meets the required standards, but that its technical specifications also meet those stipulated by British Standards.

It’s not a simple process. It can take UK Cares anywhere from a couple of months to approve a cutting and bending company’s procedures, and up to a year (and even longer if changes have to be made) to approve a steel mill. Audits are carried out twice a year, and certificates are issued on an annual basis to ensure companies maintain standards.

The process also costs. UK Cares is a non-profit organisation but it’s not a charity, so the cost of sending its representatives out to approve and audit companies has to be met by the companies themselves. The market price for steel rebar market price is about $650 (AED 2,400) per ton – and Bowsher estimates the cost of approval and annual audits, across the board, to be around 40p (AED 2) per ton of rebar produced.

“Even if it was 50p or £1 per ton, it’s not a lot of money for peace of mind,” Bowsher said. “We know that customers of the 70 companies with UK Cares approval worldwide are able to sleep at night knowing that products they ordered and paid for are exactly what they specified,” he added.