Philippe Juliard of Forster, a Swiss maker of precision steel profiles, made the case for steel as the ‘master of materials’: welded into almost any shape, fire- and bullet-resistant, thermally capable, and the most recycled material there is. Low-carbon steel, sourced with over 75% recycled content, brings it to 0.6 kg of CO₂ per kilogram.
Forster is a Swiss maker of precision steel profiles for windows, doors and façades. Steel’s strength and durability speak for themselves, he argued; but it is also versatile (welded, so almost any shape is possible), fire- and even bullet-resistant, quietly capable of high thermal performance where the industry tends to think only of aluminium or timber, and, above all, highly recyclable.
A material is only as good as its fabrication, he noted, so Forster works through a network of local partners who cut, weld and powder-coat the profiles. That expertise lets the same material balance three things at once: aesthetics, slim sightlines and large panes for daylight; performance, air, water and wind ratings alongside the now-mandatory thermal ones; and protection, panic doors that evacuate an airport, combined where needed with fire resistance.
The aesthetic argument is that steel imposes few limits. Because the profiles are welded, façades can take arches and triangles and adapt in colour, finish and dimension. Juliard ran through cases: a Netherlands building maximising daylight behind slim mullions, an Australian residential project rated for bushfire, and a German heritage renovation where old steel windows were swapped for thermally insulated ones without losing the narrow visible profile.
Sustainability was the spine of the talk. Forster works the whole lifecycle, responsible sourcing, and a Swiss production site opened in 2024, its 150th year, that is LEED Gold with a solar roof. Its systems are 100% steel down to a stainless-steel-mesh thermal break rather than a polyamide strip, which eases recycling; a steel window or façade lasts 40 to 50 years, then goes back into the loop, steel being the most recycled material there is, and magnetic, so it sorts itself out.
On embodied carbon, the headline was low-carbon steel. Partnering with ArcelorMittal to source recycled steel, Forster gets recycled content above 75%, against under 25% for conventional steel, bringing the profile down to 0.6 kg of CO₂ per kilogram, from 1.6. Specifying it well, he closed, comes down to the basics: meet the standards, size the structure for the glass, set the performance requirements, and, near the sea, hot-dip galvanise for corrosion.