After water, concrete is the second most used material on earth and due to its robustness, versatility, and cost, it is most important to the provision of national infrastructure. However, concrete is now considered unsustainable, because of the carbon footprints of the materials used, inappropriately specified and manufactured, resulting in resource inefficiency and durability concerns and the methods are being explored to mitigate these factors.
The UKIERI Collaborative Concrete Research Group organised this Congress under the theme of Concrete for 21st Century Construction, 8-10 March 2011 to address new developments in concrete and construction and their role in responding to the rapid growth in national infrastructure demands. The Congress consisted of two individual events:
1. New Developments in Concrete Construction.
2. Concrete for High Performance Sustainable Infrastructure.
This volume examines the current developments within the concrete construction industry that are relevant to India and other countries with rapidly growing construction programmes. The topics covered addressed the technical challenges being faced by concrete as it strives to adapt to ever increasing demands placed on it by designers and environments in which it must perform, as well as the role it has to play in addressing the need for sustainable infrastructure.