Under the spotlight:
Barry Rust, Head of Market and Business Development
It’s my turn under the ‘Tata Steel spotlight’, as members of the Building System UK team continue to share their thoughts on the construction industry.
So why is steel so important for our net zero future? How is Building Systems UK playing its part in the transformation of construction? Find out by reading my biography below.
Or maybe you’d just like to read about the time I got to perform with my favourite band!
As Head of Market and Business Development for Building Systems UK it's my role to help deliver our mission to ‘shape the future of sustainable buildings’. Although I am new to Building Systems UK - as well as my role - Building Systems UK has a long and proud history of serving the UK construction market.
It’s a really exciting time for the construction sector, and my role is to lead a team that will put Building Systems UK at the heart of the transformation that’s happening in construction. We've got some ambition here; to support public and private sector productivity through manufacturing lead solutions driven by partnership innovation and driving net zero steel enabled construction. We’ve already got great products and through our EPD programme, and bespoke EPD tools, we are the most transparent and reported building systems supplier in the world!
Our challenge is to ensure we are working with the right partners to develop and commercialise solutions which can make a real difference in the construction sector, whether that’s developing new construction platforms to help offsite construction or driving down CO2 intensities with offerings like our Carbon Lite solution.
I actually joined Tata Steel for the first time as a student, on a placement year in 1989! After completing my studies at university, I went into industry and was approached by the company for a role in our energy sector. So, the first twenty years of my career involved sales and marketing in international energy markets.
Then I moved to the construction sector, which is different but equally interesting. I took the role of Sustainability Manager in the construction sector for Tata Steel in Europe. Working with clients and understanding their needs across the ESG landscape was a big learning curve and an excellent grounding in the construction sector.
It led us to say, “we want to be leaders in transparency and reporting, how do we do that?” We built the business case to create and operate an EPD programme, producing our own EPDs. That led to working more on decarbonisation, working with the specialists in our organisation and tackling the challenges across the whole steel sector.
Probably two things. One is getting our EPD programme up and running. It’s completely unique, certainly for a manufacturer. We've got some world-class life cycle assessment expertise that enables this.
The other is being part of the team that led Tata Steel UK to adopting science-based targets. That’s definitely one to be proud of.
It isn’t one single innovation. Rather, it’s working more closely with clients and stakeholders to solve their problems in more sustainable ways. That might be the development of a new solution like an offsite construction component or platform, or enhancing one of our products or systems to deliver in an innovative and sustainable way.
Building Systems UK is an enterprise of Tata Steel UK so we have a lot of power and weight behind us, including significant R&D resources and world class life cycle assessment expertise – this puts us in somewhat of a unique position to engage with our clients and stakeholders to deliver real change together.
That it is absolutely fundamental to a net zero economy. It's an essential material to enable the energy transition, which is critical to deliver industrial decarbonisation. Without steel, achieving a net zero economy would be far more challenging if not impossible.
There is a saying, ‘if it isn’t made of steel it’s been made by steel’. Building Systems UK is in a great position with our steel enabled building solutions to help shape the future of sustainable buildings.
There’s a lot of change happening around us. There’s been an impetus for change for some time. There’s a need for increased productivity, lower carbon products and increased levels of sustainability across all three pillars – financial, environmental and social.
We need more of a sense of community in the built environment, not working in silos, and I’m starting to see that positive change. From materials extractors, through designers, to demolition contractors, we're trying to look at what the challenges are and look at what the next steps might be.
The expertise is already there, across the whole supply chain. The secret to driving construction transformation is making sure we deal with it as a coherent community. Get to know our neighbours, get to know who the experts are, and seek them out rather than trying to do it ourselves.
Driving transparency and reporting will remain essential. It doesn't matter whether your performance is good or average. If you're not transparent and reporting, you’re nowhere.
I’m a musician in my spare time and I have two large mastiffs – so that’s quite a bit of walking required there.
After that there isn’t much time left! But if you could give my band Yodaclub a follow on Spotify, that would be great…!
I write my own music. You’d have to listen to it to decide whether I’m creative or not, but it’s my creative outlet.
Perhaps something creative then... making something or designing something. I love the idea of coming up with a concept for a space that someone's going to live or work in. So maybe an architect!
Around 1997 or 1998, my band supported Dodgy at a gig in Leicester.
They’re one of my favourite bands of all time, so it was particularly special. They invited us a for a drink in the green room, and they were lovely. So, I’ve had a beer with Dodgy. That’s a fun fact. It was a fun night!
