Innovation and cost-effectiveness are key features of steel structures for roofing

Gautam Suri, Director, Interarch Building Products Pvt. Ltd. In an Interview with B2B Purchase.

Can you brief us on the present demands in the roofing segment? 

The term Roofing covers a very broad segment, and we, at Interarch, primarily manufacture steel roofing for industrial and warehousing applications. There is a positive demand for roofing in this sector. Increasing construction and infrastructure projects drives up the demand for roofing in a variety of industries. 

What are the latest and most innovative designs in the metal and steel structures in the roofing segment? 

For now, no dramatic innovation has happened in the design of steel structures. However, we design more clear-span and large span buildings. Tall buildings are built with steel, and hence the designs are innovative. Today, steel is utilised in almost all kinds of construction as compared to early years.

Innovative design usually happen in architectural structures like airports and malls, amongst others, where architects create fancy and exceptional designs for construction. Such structures are visually enticing, but we are not involved in such structural offerings as they are usually site-fabricated structures. Our structures are manufactured in a plant. 

We, at Interarch, are capable of doing large and tall structures with large spans with efficiency and at a great speed. This, as a result, is leading to the creation of more and more innovative building construction with large, tall, and uniquely designed buildings for all kinds of industrial applications.

What are the defining parameters of choosing metal or steel for structures? How does the pricing factor support the choice of metal? 

It is steel, which is primarily used for structures. Only steel can be used to create structures as it offers strength, stability, and durability for a building’s structure. Aluminium structures have a limited scope and are very sparingly used, if at all. Steel structures are preferred as they lead to much faster erection and completion of the building. In concrete and traditional structures, large spans are not possible. Steel structures allow us to have large spans and create more useable space in a building. The size of the structural elements is usually small, providing you with more workspace within the building.

Let us first understand why steel is preferred for structures: it offers a fixed cost approach where you can plan within a specified budget and work according to the same, focussing on increasing construction speed. The reliability of steel in construction is well recognised.

As far as pricing is concerned, it may look expensive on the surface, but deep down it is not, If you compare the timesaving factor and the fixed cost element. The estimates in conventional construction are very elastic, the final cost may vary dramatically as you cannot quantify the exact amount of materials going into it. Whereas everything in steel structures and steel buildings is as estimated. In addition, most of the contracts are fixed-price-based contracts. 

How well are we addressing the environmental demands of construction and infrastructure projects? 

Steel as a metal in roofing is eco-friendly as it does not involve any scrap wastage and requires minimum labour for installation. Steel is also nearly 100 percent recyclable, making it ideal for green building. Interestingly, steel roofs are cool roofs, and with the right kind of coating, they are classified as cool roofs, so they lead to much lower solar heat-gain in a building. 

What are your offerings in this segment? 

We, at Interarch, have a wide range of roofing systems. The whole segment is well established and has witnessed positive developments in the previous year. 

This is a functional segment and not a decorative one. There are no new offerings per se, but we keep upgrading our existing profile and features. These are more profiles for walling than for roofing, primarily because walling is more visible than roofing in a building.