The journey of steel started in the late 1700s when the British began using steel structures. The need was driven mainly out of the fireproof property of steel structures. With time, by the late 1800s, steel began to be increasingly used for a number of metal building construction purposes.

The early 1900s especially saw the number of skyscrapers in cities like Chicago that used steel as their basic supporting structure. Thus steel entered a new era in which the real properties of steel like strength, stability and durability could be exploited to make metal building thought to be a figment of imagination just a few years ago. In India, Steel Structures construction was started in the early decades of 20th century.

In 1943 Howrah Bridge with a suspended span over the Hoogly River was constructed in Kolkatta, West Bengal. In Mumbai, Victoria Terminus (VT or CST) was constructed using Steel Structures & Stone blocks for Elevation and many more Railway Stations & Bridges, Shipping Yards etc have been constructed using Steel Structures. These still stands strong as the greatest landmark all over India.

Today, with advances in manufacturing, steel is entering another phase where it is able to provide the highest quality of buildings in terms of strength, the best levels of customization and at affordable prices. This seems like the magic material that builders have been looking for ages.
In many developed countries and even in India, Steel Structures are widely used for construction of Airports, Railway Stations, Flyovers etc. A very large percentage of multi-storied buildings & Industrial infrastructure are built with steel, where as steel is not so commonly used in construction of multi-storied buildings in India even though it is a better material than reinforced concrete.

India is lagging far behind in terms of percentage of commercial structures built with less than 1% market share. UK and China leads the pack with 65% to 70% share, with US, Japan and Western Europe clocking 25% to 45%.

Most of the prominent landmarks of the world viz., World Trade Centre (WTC), Burj Khalifa have been built using steel structures. Steel Structures are so popular in China, within a span of two decades the Shangai City has more than 400 skyscrapers and nearly 4000 commercial structures.

In spite of World Trade Centre destroyed on 9-11-2001, at the very site US has constructed called Ground Zero using Steel Structure.
Eiffel Tower built in 1869 and latest master piece Burj Khalifa in 2010 have used steel structure as reliable material for construction. Steel based structures have become very popular in the last century and they managed to take architects’ and engineers’ imagination beyond limits.