During these unprecedented times we are all very much aware and appreciate the efforts keyworkers are making every day. In honour of this Delphi Steel is highlighting the efforts of construction workers and armed forces personnel. These key workers have worked tirelessly on building the new Covid-19 field hospitals to help tackle the virus.

Of course the main concern is a rapid spread of Covid-19 resulting in large numbers of patients requiring care. Additionally, the virus has already caused interruption to services for patients with other health conditions. This has driven the need to build new hospitals which have now been opened up and down the country. The anticipated effect is an easing of pressure on the NHS, restoration of care services and treatment of coronavirus patients. So far 8 new hospitals have been opened by converting stadiums, concert halls and convention centres. The result of this gargantuan effort has freed up to 33,000 beds around the country, equivalent to 50 new hospitals (BBC.co.uk).

The new Covid-19 field hospitals:

The NHS Louisa Jordon Hospital

• Location: SEC Centre, Glasgow
• Work completed: 2.5 weeks
• Opened: 20^th April by Princess Anne
• Number of workers: Over 500
• Beds: up to 1000
• Sister Louisa Jordon was a first world war nurse who lost her life during service in Serbia in 1915. Luoisa served as part of the Scottish Womens’ Hospital for Foreign Services.

The Dragons Heart Hospital 

• Location: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
• Work completed: 10 days
• Opened: 20^th April by Prince Charles
• Number of workers: 650
• Beds: up to 2000
• Named after Wales’ brave Red Dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) who defeated a White Dragon under Vortigerns castle.  This dragon is a symbol of defence and resoluteness in the face of hardship

Belfast City Hospital

• Location: Belfast
• Beds: 230

NHS Nightingale Hospital London

• Location: London’s Excel Exhibition Centre
• Work completed: 9 days
• Opened: 3^rd April by Prince Charles
• Number of workers: 360
• Beds: Up to 4000
• Named after Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing and famous for her work during the Crimean war.

Harrogate Nightingale Hospital 

• Location: Harrogate Convention Centre
• Work completed: under 3 weeks
• Opened: 21^st April by Captain Tom Moore
• Number of workers: 600
• Beds: 500

NHS Nightingale Hospital North West 

• Location: Manchester Central Convention Complex
• Work completed: 2 weeks
• Opened: 17^th April by the Duchess of Cornwall
• Workers: Up to 1000
• Beds: up to 750

NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham

• Location: Birmingham National Exhibition Centre
• Work completed: 8 days
• Opened: 16th April by Prince William
• Beds: 500
• Workers: 400

NHS Nightingale Hospital Bristol 

• Location: Bristol Exhibition and Conference Centre
• Work completed: 24 days
• Opened: 27th April by Prince Edward
• Completed in 24 days
• Beds: 300

Today is ‘Stop Food Waste Day’. Delphi Steel found an interesting article advocating the use of steel in food packaging.  The Covid-19 outbreak has led to an increase in the food waste problem. This was partly due to panic buying and partly the effect of pubs, cafés, restaurants, etc having to close.  Many of these businesses provided home deliveries to use up left-overs, and panic buying seems to have stopped. As a result Supermarkets have restocked and there appears to be plenty for everyone again.

Great news but sadly the food waste problem remains.  WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) produced a progress report in 2019 claiming around a third of food is wasted globally (link to the article here). So let’s put that into perspective, in the UK that amounts to 10 million tonnes of food. Value: £20 billion, GHG emissions: 25 million tonnes. A problem? Most definitely!

Benefits of Steel Packaging

In honour of Stop Food Waste Day, here is a list of some benefits steel packaging has that reduces food waste:

·       Minimised loss at processing stage

o   harvest-transport-canning time is usually less than 3 hours

·       Preservation of food

o   provides 100% protection from air, water, and light damage resulting in a shelf-life of up to 5 years

o   maintains taste and nutritional value

·       Robust packaging –

o   steel is tough so requires little extra packaging.

o   reduces damage or spoiling and loss during transport

·       Low energy transport – requires no freezing

·       Undesirable food (misshapen or “ugly”) is not thrown away but canned and processed as normal.

·       Canned foods are a good portion-size so consumers can buy what they need and reduce wastage at home

Furthermore, steel is 100% recylcable. There are over 1500 scrapyards in the Uk all helping to keep the steel recylcing rate at a fantastic 76%. Check out this video from Apeal.org for more information about steel recycling.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected all areas of our modern lives. The Steel Industry is no exception and like all other companies involved in the industry, Delphi Steel has also felt the impact. Building sites across the country are scattered with abandoned forklifts and diggers, and foundations exposed of projects left for another day. As a result, dreams of the new house, storage facility, leisure centre and start-up units are now a far-off reality. Here we take a look at what the Steel Industrys’ Covid-19 recovery might look like.

The construction industry accounts for 7% of GDP, generating over £110 billion per annum to the economy and 3 million jobs. This amounts to 10% of total UK employment. Naturally there is concern of the impact of long-term closures of sites.

Yesterday debate began over easing lockdown strategies here in Britain. This is a welcome discussion and gives hope of light at the end of this tunnel. But let us be realistic, we know this is not a flick of a switch. Normality will be a far cry from the day we start going back to work.

Moving Forward

Planning the strategies needed to limit the spread of the virus while still allowing projects to move forward is essential.  We have been on lockdown for over a month with no definite answer to when that will end. A premature return to work could have disastrous effects.  Poorly planned and/or too soon then we will render all our sacrifices a waste of time and will go back into full lockdown restrictions.

One of the UK government’s objectives is getting the construction industry back to work.  In light of this some companies are beginning to plan a re-opening of sites. One such company is Persimmon.  They have announced they are re-opening sites as of the 27^th April. They have been formulating and testing new site protocols they say will allow them to return to site safely. Monitoring the success of companies re-starting work can provide lessons ensuirng the Steel Industrys’ Covid-19 recovery is successful.