Building Pathology: Concrete Problems

• Date: Wednesday 23 January 2013
• Time: 16:00 - 18:00
• Location: K505, Buchanan House, Port Dundas Road, Glasgow.
• For: Anyone who has responsibility for buildings. Those who are responsible for preparing reports on buildings • Property managers • Surveyors • Owners

Course Summary

Concrete is sometimes thought of as a fairly new material, with the earliest examples dating from the Victorian times.  In fact, concrete goes back more than 2000 years, at least to the days of the Romans. (There is also a kind of powder which from natural causes produces astonishing results. It is found in the neighbourhood of Baiae and in the country belonging to the towns round about Mt. Vesuvius. This substance, when mixed with lime and rubble, not only lends strength to buildings of other kinds, but even when piers of it are constructed in the sea, they set hard under water. (Vetruvious, circa 30 – 20BC).

Today, most failures result from

• Reinforcement failure due to inadequate protection (cover)
• Chemical action on the reinforcement causing concrete to fracture, followed by accelerated corrosion
• Chemical reactions within the concrete itself
• Failure to select the correct type of concrete for a particular purpose
• Examine the history of concrete and its use

The aim is to examine the development of concrete and the problems associated with it.  The objectives are as follows:-

Examine typical defects, including diagnosis, for a number of issues associated with concrete decay, including carbonation, sulphate attack and carbonation.

Speaker profile

J S Castle BSc(Hons) MRICS

Jim Castle graduated in 1979 with an Honours Degree in Building.  He initially went into project management with a Design and Build contractor, before working with a Health Authority where he qualified as a Chartered Building Surveyor in 1988.  He went into private practice soon after.  Initially he covered the full spectrum of Building Surveying work, including design.  He later specialised in the surveying of buildings, particularly Building Surveys and specific building pathology issues.  Latterly, he became a member of the RICS Expert Witness Registration Scheme.

After thirty years in the surveying and construction professions, Jim moved to his current post as Lecturer in Building Surveying and Construction Technology at Glasgow Caledonian University.  He is currently studying towards gaining Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and will then be embarking on a doctoral qualification.

Cost

£65 + VAT

Contact

email: ebecpd@gcu.ac.uk

tel: 0141 331 8793