Event Summary
The Most Sustainable Concrete Structure Is the One We Don’t Have to Rebuild
Rethinking inspection, maintenance and service-life extension as a sustainability strategy
Summary: Much of the concrete industry’s sustainability effort is focused on reducing the embodied carbon of new construction. But how much demolition, waste, disruption and replacement construction could be avoided by inspecting earlier, maintaining properly and extending the useful life of the concrete structures we already have?
Australia has a substantial and growing stock of ageing concrete buildings and infrastructure. While many remain fundamentally sound and valuable, inspection and maintenance are often deferred until relatively minor defects develop into complex, expensive and disruptive structural problems.
Drawing on more than 20 years of practical experience in concrete refurbishment, structural repair, heritage and live-site construction, Peter Valanidas will explore why deterioration rarely occurs without warning, how deferred maintenance reduces the options available to asset owners and why some repairs fail when visible symptoms are addressed without properly investigating the underlying cause.
The webinar will examine proactive inspection, repair methodology, lifecycle decision-making, procurement and service-life extension as a sustainability strategy. The presentation will challenge owners, engineers, consultants, contractors and government to move from reactive repair toward proactive stewardship of existing concrete assets.
The webinar will run, as a live presentation, from 2.00pm to approximately 3.00pm (AEST). It is conducted online on the Zoom platform and delegates will be emailed login details and a password for this webinar prior to the event.
CPD
This webinar provides 1 hour of structured CPD. Engineers Australia members may claim this hour under Type II (Seminars and Workshops), applicable to their area of engineering practice. This webinar is also recognised structured CPD for members of other professional bodies with annual CPD obligations. Participants should retain their login confirmation as evidence for their CPD records.
Times for all States/Territories
2.00 pm to 3.00 pm NSW / ACT / QLD / VIC / TAS (AEST)
1.30 pm to 2.30 pm SA / NT (ACST)
12.00 pm to 1.00 pm WA (AWST)
Prices (including GST):
$44.00 CIA Professional, Company & Academic Members
$22.00 CIA Retired, Life, Honorary Student
$66.00 Non-members
Speaker Bio:
Peter Valanidas is a civil engineer, business leader and Co-Founder and Managing Director of Structum, a specialist concrete structures contractor established in 2005. With more than 30 years of experience delivering complex concrete refurbishment, structural repair, heritage and technically challenging live-site projects, Peter brings the combined perspective of an engineer, contractor and long-term business operator. His experience spans construction methodology, structural refurbishment, buildability, project risk and the practical challenges involved in extending the useful life of existing structures. Peter is a member of the Concrete Institute of Australia’s NSW State Committee and is also contributing through Engineers Australia Heritage to industry work focused on proactive inspection and maintenance of ageing concrete structures.