OREANDA-NEWS. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) started rebuilding the Iron-making Area Center (administration building) of Kashima Works. The Works sustained damage to part of the production and shipping facilities from the Great East Japan Earthquake. In order to ensure the safety and security of people working in and around the iron-making area of the Works, this Center will be rebuilt as a structure specifically designed to provide greater safety from tsunami.

For this Center, NSSMC have adopted the "pilotis construction," a design concept being proposed by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation for earthquake & tsunami-resistant structures to serve as bases at times of disaster. In the pilotis construction, the ground story, characteristically, has only independent bearing columns, eliminating walls and providing atrium-like open space, to allow tsunami waves to flow through them, thus evading their destructive forces.

For columns, EG-COLUMN (round pipe column made by high-efficiency electro-gas arc welding), which is developed by us jointly with KATAYAMA STRATECH CORP. and others, will be used. For beams, HYPER BEAM® (external-dimension constant H-shape) and SMART BEAM® (welded light-gauge H-shape), both our key structural products, are used. Steel structure has the futures of a short construction term and low cost. It also can take a large spanning and realize flexible space with few columns.

Based on the results of this rebuilding project and others, NSSMC shall continue to propose steel-structures that are strong and reliable at times of disaster.