31 March 2011
Corporate News

Tata Steel and LCRI invest in research to generate energy from buildings

Tata Steel has today unveiled a new centre which will develop and demonstrate ultimate low-carbon, low-energy sustainable construction technologies.

The Sustainable Building Envelope Centre (SBEC) will also highlight the commitment by Tata Steel to designing innovative solutions to the energy challenges facing UK industry.

The Centre, to be opened by First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, is the result of a collaboration between the Welsh Assembly Government, the Low Carbon Research Institute (LCRI) and Tata Steel.

SBEC, based at Tata Steel’s site at Shotton, Deeside, will be a showcase for sustainable products and used to test and monitor new integrated heating, energy and ventilation systems on the fabric of the building. At SBEC, a team of researchers and technologists will create building façades – the walls and roofs – which will transform the buildings from being energy consumers into energy generators.

SBEC was designed by the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) in partnership with Tata Steel and already incorporates several prototype renewable energy systems that will be tested and monitored as part of the initial work programmes.

Tata Steel’s involvement in the £6.5 million SBEC project is just the latest in a number of investments in technology with the aim of improving the sustainability both of the steel industry and the industries it services.

Meanwhile the £20 million SPECIFIC project at Baglan in South Wales has been set up to study other new coatings for steel and other substrates that can generate power.

Uday Chaturvedi, Chief Technical Officer of Tata Steel in Europe, said: “Buildings are responsible for almost half of the UK’s carbon emissions, half of its water consumption, around a third of its landfill waste and a quarter of all raw materials used in the economy. This means that the UK’s sustainable development targets cannot be met without a fundamental change to the way in which buildings are constructed. The steel industry can be part of the solution and these projects demonstrate our commitment to helping to develop a sustainable future.”

Ends

For further information, please call:

Tata Steel

Bob Jones: 0207 717 4532, 07764 710340, bob.jones@tatasteel.com

Brunswick Group

David Litterick, Teresa Bianchi: 020 7404 5959

About Tata Steel in Europe

The European operations of Tata Steel (formerly known as Corus) comprise Europe's second largest steel producer.  With main steelmaking operations in the UK and the Netherlands, the company supplies steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, material handling and other demanding markets worldwide.

Tata Steel is one of the world’s top ten steel producers.  The combined group has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.

SBEC building Shotton
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