Save our steelworks: GPT says choosing local steel the 'right thing to do'

"We set ourselves the ambition of wherever it could be BlueScope steel it would," said GPT development manager Steven Turner.

"Falling back from that, if it couldn't be BlueScope steel for a whole myriad of reasons, then it should be Australian steel. If it's not Australian steel, then why?"

That approach saw the overwhelming bulk of steel in Wollongong Central sourced from BlueScope or OneSteel in Melbourne.

Mr Turner said only "one or two small items in the whole building" use overseas steel and that was only because no one in Australia made that variety.

He said GPT had strong reasons for wanting to buy local.

"The primary driver was we thought it was important for this community to have a building that they had a sense of ownership over, that they had a sense of pride in and that they could walk up and physically touch and know that they contributed to that building or knew someone who worked on it," he said.

"That's the altruistic view of why we did it. Does it make sense, from an economic point of view for the country, buying local wherever we possibly can? Yes it does.

"Then, from an environmental point of view, if it means steel was only being transported relatively short distances then that's a great outcome for us."

When it came to suggesting other businesses and the government follow GPT's lead, Mr Turner acknowledged putting the principle into practice could be tricky and required assessing business and procurement processes, the design and the capabilities of local industry.

He also suggested mandating the use of a certain item could increase a project's cost base and maybe even discourage someone from undertaking the project at all.

"It's a really tricky balance but as an aspiration, as a target, [buying local] is always the right thing to do," he said.