Steel Frame

Exposed steel beams and columns with expressed joints. Available as painted (RAL colours) or exposed/galvanised finish.

Carbon and evidence

Product Evidence

Generic material record — no manufacturer product attached.

AI-estimated material

Evidence Base

Category estimate

No product evidence is attached to this generic material, so nothing on this card is numerical. The guidance below is qualitative — an AI-assisted category profile — for early design discussion, not for figures.

Next step: request a current product EPD or manufacturer carbon declaration, or swap in a branded product that holds one.

What's missing (3)

•No current product EPD is recorded.
•No quantified carbon result is recorded.
•No product-specific circularity or material-health claims are recorded.

Service Life — the B4 Replacement Input

60 years · basis not recorded

≈1 installation over a 60-year building study period.

B4 (replacement) follows the building, not the product: an assessor multiplies replacement cycles by project quantities. This record supplies the service life and does not compute B4.

Design & Specification Notes

Exposed steel beams and columns with expressed joints.

Typical Uses

•Primary frame
•Long-span elements
•Load-bearing supports

Key Performance

High load-bearing capacity for primary frame.

Watch For

•
Corrosion in humid environments
Specify galvanizing or protective coatings
•
Thermal bridging at connections
Include thermal breaks in details

Specification Actions

•Provide an EPD (EN 15804) or verified embodied carbon figure (A1–A3), and state the life-cycle stages covered.
•Aim for high recycled content (verify) and prefer electric-arc furnace steel where available
•Specify bolted connections so it can be taken apart and reused

Indicative Health & Indoor Air

low Risk

Inert material with no off-gassing. Coatings and fire protection may contain VOCs—specify low-emission products.

Evidence:No evidence held

Category baseline

1640kgCO2e/tonne

1640 kgCO2e/tonne (A1–A3, EN 15804+A2, UK)

A consumption-weighted market average, not a distribution — there is no published producer spread, so none is shown. Published as 1.64 kgCO2e/kg and converted exactly to 1640 kgCO2e/tonne to match the declared unit used by products in this category.

Source: Assessing carbon emissions — UK consumption-based average for hot-rolled steel sections — New Steel Construction (BCSA / SCI). Retrieved 2026-08-03.

Products in this category

2 products from 2 manufacturers. Ordered by the evidence each record holds, never by commercial standing.

Specification

Finish: Painted steel — select colour
Service life: 60 years