Description
Date: 18 June, 2026, 06.00 UTC and 13.00 UTC.
Estimated Time: 1 hr
Language: English
Summary of the lecture
Stainless steels are widely recognised in homes, healthcare settings, restaurants and urban environments, where they are used in applications such as toilets, elevators, cladding systems, handrails and architectural features.
By contrast, stainless steels are less often considered for structural applications, despite many of the 200+ available grades being suitable for structural components and products. Over many decades, stainless steels have been used in structures with highly positive outcomes, including the Progreso Pier in Mexico, which opened in 1941 and still stands strong today.
This steelTalk will examine the selective use of stainless steels in structures and explain how this approach can support more resilient, lower-maintenance and lower-emissions infrastructure. The session will explore why life-cycle thinking is important for materials selection decisions, particularly in environments exposed to chlorides, sulphur dioxides and other corrosive media.
In this steelTalk, Tim Collins, Secretary General at worldstainless, will outline the concept of selective stainless steel use in structures and illustrate, through real-world examples, why this approach should be more widely considered in structural design.
What you will learn:
- Understand the technical advantages of stainless steels for structural components.
- Explain why life-cycle thinking is important when making materials selection decisions.
- Identify how designing for maintenance minimisation or avoidance can reduce long-term costs and disruption.
- Recognise the emissions reduction opportunities delivered by the selective use of stainless steels in structures.
- Assess why stainless steels can provide value for money across the life of a structure.
Speaker Introduction
Tim Collins
Secretary General, worldstainless
Tim Collins was born and grew up in Sheffield, the home of UK stainless steelmaking. While at school, he worked part-time for his father making steelworks thermocouples and laboratory furnaces.
After leaving school, he studied metallurgy at university and joined British Steel Stainless immediately after graduating. A succession of industry mergers saw Tim undertake senior stainless technical, operations and supply chain roles in the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK before joining the ISSF, now worldstainless, in August 2019.
During his career, Tim also studied Goldratt’s teaching on lean flow and operations, gained a postgraduate diploma in operations and inventory management and completed a master’s degree in business administration.
Away from work, Tim supports his boyhood football club, Sheffield Wednesday, and enjoys rock music, cycling, fine wines and craft ales.
