Event Summary
Durability – Past, Present and Future
Extending the life of today’s structures while designing resilient, lower-carbon durable concrete for tomorrow.
Durability remains one of the most important considerations for Australia’s concrete structures and infrastructure. This CIA roadshow will take a past, present and future look at concrete durability - examining what we have learnt from the performance of existing structures, the challenges facing asset owners and practitioners today, and how research, materials and design approaches are evolving for the structures of tomorrow. The program will explore current research and industry practice in assessing, maintaining, repairing and extending the service life of existing concrete, and lessons learnt.
Looking into the future, the roadshow will consider how the drive towards lower-carbon concrete, greater resilience and longer service life is changing the way durability needs to be understood, specified and delivered. Presentations will aim to bridge research and practice with commercial applications, examining emerging materials and technologies alongside the practical challenges of specifying durability requirements, translating design intent into construction, managing durability risks on projects, and demonstrating long-term performance.
Along with our durability expert presenters who will travel the country, and our local practitioners presenting at each venue, we will bring together researchers, designers, asset owners, contractors, material suppliers and durability specialists, to ask an important question: how can we apply the lessons of the past and the knowledge of today to deliver more durable, resilient and sustainable concrete structures for the future?
Presentations:
Design for Low Carbon Concrete Structures: The pathway toward Net Zero in concrete industry requires engineers to maintain the design of concrete structures for sustainability to meet cost, durability and environmental goals, with emphasis on lowering the carbon footprint of concrete infrastructure without compromising on cost and design life. The speaker will address these challenges from his experiences in structural design, construction quality control, innovative concrete mix design and well control concrete production. The ready availability of low carbon concrete (LCC) enables engineers to optimise structural design and appropriate construction technologies to achieve low carbon concrete structures. Low carbon concrete specifications have been developed for NSW Government and its agencies to meet the deemed-to-satisfied durability requirements in AS 3600:2026, AS 5100:2024 and relevant road authorities’ specifications, and the guide to the commercial supply of low carbon concrete by MECLA and CCAA’s low carbon rating system will be discussed. SmartCrete CRC is currently supporting the concrete industry in advancing technologies in sustainable concrete, engineered solutions and asset management and some of the relevant outcomes with high TRL will be highlighted. They include the development and use of new and existing SCM for LCC, HPC, UHPC, performance-based concrete specifications, and the use of recycled materials, and advances made in precast concrete and fastening/connectors technologies, sewer inspection robots and digital twin technology in asset management.
Durability Design in Practice: Real World Applications: Concrete infrastructure is expected to perform for 100, 120, even 300 years - but how does durability design actually translate from standards and models into structures that last? The presentation will explore how durability design principles are applied in practice - and where theory meets the realities of construction, materials variability, and site conditions. This session moves beyond the codes to examine real project case studies, common pitfalls, and practical lessons learned from delivering durability outcomes on some of Australia's most significant infrastructure projects. Attendees will gain practical insights into bridging the gap between design intent and long-term asset performance
Main Presenters:
Professor Vute Sirivivatnanon is a Professor of Concrete Engineering at UTS and Research Director of SmartCrete CRC. He has worked in bridge design, precast concrete production, concrete quality system in public housing and concrete research at CSIRO and CCAA prior to becoming an academic at UTS. Vute is a member of Australian Standard Committee BD-002 and CE-012. He chairs BD-002 SC2 responsible for Section 4 Design for Durability in AS 3600.
Dr Daksh Baweja is the Director at DMC Advisory, his consultancy. He is also technical consultant at BG&E, part of the Systra Group, and Industry Fellow at the University of Technology in Sydney. He completed his Masters degree on durability of fly ash and other concretes in 1985, then worked at CSIRO where he completed a PhD in civil engineering on corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete in 1995. Following that, he worked with former companies that are now Holcim Australia in functional management roles prior to entering engineering consulting. Daksh has been involved in knowledge management, marketing, commercial R&D, academic and expert witness work. He is the author of over 130 research papers into concrete materials, structural design, concrete durability, serviceability and sustainability in major infrastructure, and is a Past President of the Concrete Institute of Australia, Fellow of Engineers Australia and was awarded for his outstanding contributions to concrete technology from ACI in 2007. He received Life Membership of the Concrete Institute of Australia in 2013 and became a Fellow of ACI in 2014, chaired the Concrete 2019 committee for the Concrete Institute of Australia and has been a member of the Concrete Institute durability committee since its formation in 2009.
Mr Greg van Rooyen is National Vice-President of the Concrete Institute of Australia and Associate Director - Materials at BG&E Engineering. With over 30 years' experience in concrete technology, Greg specialises in concrete durability, materials performance, and infrastructure assessment. He holds a Master of Science in Advanced Concrete Technology from Queen's University Belfast and is completing a PhD on concrete materials at the University of Southern Queensland. Greg's expertise spans major infrastructure projects valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, including durability design for bridges, tunnels, and rail infrastructure. He contributes to the Standards Australia AS 5100.5 committee, serves on SmartCrete CRC steering committees, and has authored multiple industry papers on concrete performance and sustainability. A Chartered Professional Engineer (Australia and UK), Greg regularly presents on concrete properties, durability assessment, and sustainable construction practices, bringing both industry and research perspectives to advance concrete technology.
CPD
This seminar provides 3 hours of CPD applicable to Engineers Australia members. This seminar is also recognised CPD for members of other professional bodies with annual CPD obligations. Participants should retain their attendance confirmation as evidence for their CPD records.
Program:
1.30 pm Registration
2.00 pm Seminar Presentations and Q&A
5.00 pm Networking over Drinks and nibbles
6.00 pm End
Prices (incl GST):
$295.00 CIA Members
$165.00 CIA Student, Retired, Life and Honorary Members
$345.00 Non-Members
