By Dr. Troy Coyle
2025 has been a year in which research and steelmaking marched toward lower emissions while the market coped with cost and demand pressures. For builders and contractors, the message is clear: expect more guidance, better low-carbon products, and continued demand for high-quality steelwork, but also plan for supply-chain and price volatility.
HERA (the Heavy Engineering Research Association) marked a productive 12 months, delivering applied research that directly affects everyday work on site. Key outputs in 2025 included new national guidance for low-carbon, circular design in low-rise buildings and practical tools to help specifiers choose lower-impact steel. HERA’s seismic and structural-fire programmes also produced findings that have been fed into standards development, notably contributing to updated weld-sizing criteria appearing in draft updates to NZS 3404. These outputs are aimed firmly at making low-carbon, resilient detailing easier for engineers and fabricators to adopt.
On the supply side, New Zealand’s sole flat-rolled steel producer (New Zealand Steel) continued a major transition. The country’s move toward electric-arc-furnace (EAF) based production, supported by industry and government, advanced in 2025, with commissioning of a lower-emission plant targeted for the end of the year. That shift promises more locally produced lower-carbon steel for building projects and, over time, greater price stability and security of supply.
Market indicators were mixed. Structural-steel volumes were supported by infrastructure demand, even while the sector overall suffered from poor demand. Forecasts point to gradual demand growth across the next few years, making steelwork an attractive area for firms that invest in productivity and quality systems now.
Globally, the steel industry faces overcapacity and price swings, and the OECD warned that these factors complicate decarbonisation investment; a reminder that international dynamics will still affect local project costs and timelines.
What builders and contractors should do next: engage with HERA’s guidance and tools, ask suppliers for lower-carbon product information, lock in contracts where appropriate to manage price risk, and invest in fabrication quality and compliance to capture the benefits of improving standards. 2025 hasn’t solved every problem, but it has delivered practical steps that make low-carbon, resilient steel construction more achievable on Aotearoa New Zealand sites.
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