Materials and structures were the main topics of an international conference on sustainable concrete held recently at the Valletta Campus of the University of Malta.
The conference was organised by the International Federation for Structural Concrete together with the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta in collaboration with Philip A. Tabone and BASF Construction Chemicals.
In his introductory address, Chris Agius, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and the Property Market in the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, spoke about the need of sustainable structures to support Malta’s current economic development as well as the need for the promotion of sustainable use of materials and life cycle engineering in the construction industry.
Various bodies and leading organisations in Malta participated in this high-profile discussion forum, including the Planning and Property Market Secretariat at the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, the Building Industry Consultative Council of the Government of Malta, the Kamra tal-Periti (Malta Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers), the Malta Developers Association, the Malta Group of Professional Engineering Institutions (Institution of Civil Engineers, UK), Sustainable Built Environment Malta and the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment.
The conference was also supported by Concrete Plant International CPI-Worldwide. The conference International Scientific Committee was coordinated by fib Commission 7 for Sustainable Concrete coinciding also with the first meeting of the International Federation for Structural Concrete in the Maltese islands. The convenor was Ruben Paul Borg, member of fib Commission 7 and academic in reinforced concrete structures and materials engineering at the University of Malta.
It was the first fib event being organised in Malta for such an important gathering.
The conference included more than 25 presentations by international experts from leading international universities and research centres, including keynote presentations on the latest advances in cement-based materials research and concrete in the construction industry. The peer reviewed scientific papers have been published in Materials Science and Engineering, which is indexed internationally in Scopus and Web of Science.
The themes addressed by the experts included recycled materials and industrial by-products in concrete, innovative and advanced materials and technologies, repair of reinforced concrete structures, life cycle assessment of structures and self-healing concrete among other interesting themes.
The delegates also discussed quality concrete and advances in concrete materials and structures with the participation of leading experts.