BCSA Ltd is a

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

for the

structural steel Structural steel is a category of steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section. Structural steel shapes, sizes, ...

industry in the UK and Ireland. It lobbies on behalf of its members, and provides them with education and technical services. A subsidiary, Steel Construction Certification Scheme Ltd, runs the

UKAS The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body recognised by the British government to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services. It e ...

accredited Steel Construction Certificate Scheme (SCCS). It provides certification for steelwork contracting organisations under

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO 90 ...

, ISO 3834,

ISO 14001 ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b ...

and

ISO 45001 ISO 45001 is an ISO standard for management systems of occupational health and safety (OHS), published in March 2018. The goal of ISO 45001 is the reduction of occupational injuries and diseases, including promoting and protecting physical and ...

. The association, its marketing initiative Steel for Life Ltd, and the Steel Construction Institute manage online resource, Steel Construction Info. In addition to London headquarters, it maintains offices near

Doncaster Sheffield Airport Doncaster Sheffield Airport , formerly named and commonly referred to as Robin Hood Airport, is an unscheduled international airport closed to passenger traffic. The airport is located in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. ...

History

The association arose from a series of mergers involving regional and sector specific associations. Five steelwork contractors in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

began to collaborate in 1906, and then formally established the Steelwork Society in 1908. The Rules were only finalised in 1911. Steel producers had benefited from trade associations as a forum to collude on pricing, and steelwork contractors sought the same advantages. Similar groups established themselves around the country, and joint meetings were held. In the early 1930s the British Steelwork Association operated from London as a national, federated association funded by, and representing, the local associations. The British Constructional Steelwork Association was formed, in 1936, to succeed the British Steelwork Association. In return for recognition from the steel manufacturers in raw material negotiations, their fabrication subsidiaries were permitted to join the new association. Membership immediately jumped from 92 to 159. In 1966 The British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd incorporated to take over all the activities of the British Constructional Steelwork Association, Bridge and Constructional Ironwork Association, London Constructional Engineers Association, Midland Structural Association, Scottish Structural Steel Association, Steelwork Society, Northern Ireland Steelwork Association, and Structural Export Association. The name changed to BCSA Ltd in 1990 though it commonly operates under the name of a subsidiary called the British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd, incorporated at that time. Membership of the association was initially limited to structural steel contractors until in 1987, other companies that shared the association's objects began to be admitted as associates. The

rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education * Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule perta ...

of the association were amended accordingly in 1994. The British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd purchased a 99 year lease on its

Whitehall Court Whitehall Court in the City of Westminster, England, is one contiguous building but consists of two separate constructions. The south end was designed by Thomas Archer and A. Green and constructed as a block of luxury residential apartments in ...

headquarters in 1989 for £610,000. It previously operated from nearby premises at 35 Old Queen Street.

Price fixing

Collusion Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to att ...

on pricing had been an important part of early

trade associations A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partici ...

in the iron and steel industries. Trade associations of structural steel contractors were no different, and even then this was controversial. The British Constructional Steelwork Association identify instances of members of their predecessor organisations, cautious about the legality of these schemes, hiding behind

code names A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...

and numbers. Association practice was to share tender lists for contracts, and where that consisted wholly of members, to add % to the tender price of the chosen contractor, to be shared amongst the other members on the tender list. During the 1920s, economic pressures encouraged almost all structural steel contractors to join the associations. Tenders were routinely member only, significantly curtailing

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

. Some contractors were alleged to have joined tender lists with no intention of bidding, merely to claim their share of the %. Government imposed prohibitive

tariffs A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...

on imported fabricated steel in 1932. Real competition to the structural steel contractors came only from domestic steel manufacturers with their own, in house, fabrication capability, and emerging construction techniques with

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

. The 1936 arrangement to admit fabrication subsidiaries of steel manufacturers to the association drew them also into the

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

enforced control on maximum structural steel prices through an Iron and Steel Control department. Post war, it was common for structural steel contractors to submit identical bids in response to tenders. Government became more concerned with anti-competitive behaviour, and the structural steel industry's highly developed, overt

bid rigging Bid rigging is a fraudulent scheme in procurement auctions resulting in non-competitive bids and can be performed by corrupt officials, by firms in an orchestrated act of collusion, or between officials and firms. This form of collusion is illegal ...

received particular attention. The

Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator unde ...

launched an investigation and the industry was required to register its practices under the ''

Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956 The Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to enforce competition, and provide an appropriate check on restrictive combines and practices. It required that any agreement between companies ...

''. Registration provided for further scrutiny. The Registrar promptly challenged restrictions on trade, and

price fixing Price fixing is an anticompetitive agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given ...

, imposed by the British Constructional Steelwork Association upon its members, under the new ''Restrictive Practices Court Act 1958''. Judgement rejected arguments the measures offered useful protections and held them to be void. The association undertook thenceforth to engage only in co-operation between its members, rather than price fixing and collusion. In 1995, the association launched their Register of Qualified Steelwork Contractors with a stated aim to readily enable identification of appropriate steelwork contractors, and thereby ensure competition takes place.

Structural Steel Design Awards

In 1969 the association set up its Structural Steel Design Awards. Recent recipients include:

Coat of arms

The association was granted a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

in 1987. The shield is a helmet on a background of red lines representing a framework of girders, and the

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

is a red lion symbolising the strength of steel, and also British nationality. The lion is dotted with gold

bezants In the Middle Ages, the term bezant (Old French ''besant'', from Middle Latin, Latin ''bizantius aureus'') was used in Western Europe to describe several gold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from the Solidus (coin), Roman ''solidus''. ...

representing fair dealing in commerce; the yellow, blazing torch, held aloft by the lion, represents the association's enlightening message that structures should be of steel not concrete, and the crest, atop a red and gold

torse In heraldry, a torse or wreath is a twisted roll of fabric laid about the top of the helmet and the base of the crest. It has the dual purpose of masking the join between helm and crest, and of holding the mantling in place. The torse is some ...

, is set within a circle of steel ingots. The

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

depicted on the arms is ''Strength and Stability'', intended as reference to both the association and structural steel. The crest is used in the association's

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

Membership

Full members

Full members are contractors that pay a levy to the association based on their sales of relevant steelwork in the prior year. Present full members include: Past full members include:

Associate members

Associate members are suppliers to structural steel contractors, and others with an interest in the industry's operation. Recent associate members include:

References

External links

Official website

Steel Construction Info
{{Construction industry in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of Westminster Steel companies of the United Kingdom Construction trade groups based in the United Kingdom Structural steel Organizations established in 1936 1936 establishments in the United Kingdom Metallurgical industry of the United Kingdom Price fixing convictions Private companies limited by guarantee of the United Kingdom Private companies limited by guarantee of England