What have HTS+ been up to?

• We traced the structural steel delivered on two major projects, Worship Square and One Exchange Square, closing the loop between design intent and reality. This gave us unprecedented insight into the geographic and carbon stories of our projects.
• This year we had the pleasure of working with some fantastic people, continuing our work with organisations such as the Engineers Reuse Collective and other exciting industry collaborations – to be announced soon!
• We explored quarries, yards, and factories, meeting the people who help our projects go from design to reality – getting closer to second sites and confronting our ecological impact.
• We launched our site visit report app, QA dashboard and steel intensity drawings, developed by our accomplished in-house software engineers.

While much of our research is initiated in response to a confidential project or to keep HTS design teams at the cutting edge of innovation, we support this by publishing original research pieces on our online blog, including:

• Timber, knots and all: Unlike other structural materials, timber production can work in direct harmony with nature, but as a living material it is also uniquely vulnerable.
• Availability and use of GGBS: As global demand for low-carbon materials grows, GGBS supply may tighten. See more on the limits and alternatives of GGBS.
• Worship Square steel: a closer look: An in-depth discussion of the key moves involved in designing and delivering this exceptionally low carbon structural steel frame.
• Where do recycled aggregates go?: Research and Innovation Engineer Ben Brown looks into the construction industry’s use of aggregates, and their potential for circularity.
• Raising the bar: Senior Materials Scientist Benjamin Gardner delves deeper into the production of rebar, investigating the global market and how much the UK imports.
• We also co-wrote the Deconstruction specification with the Engineers Reuse Collective.

We hope we can have as much positive impact as possible, and that sharing our working can inspire others to implement and build upon our findings, progressing the whole sector and beyond.

There’s much to look back on, but with more to investigate, we’re excited to see what’s next for HTS+.