Historic concrete

Concrete like materials were already applied during the Roman Empire. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a wide scale application of concrete only reappeared in the 19th century. Here lies also the origin of modern (reinforced) concrete. Since then, both concrete application and composition have significantly changed. Today, concrete from the 19th and early 20th century is considered as historic concrete.

In this thesis, we study historic concrete in the Netherlands, that is to say the concrete dating back from the middle of the 19th century up to the 1960s. Within this period, the application and properties of concrete varied, due to increasing technological insight and social acceptance of concrete as a building material. Although the application of concrete in the Netherlands was late compared with neighbouring countries, there are quite specific and interesting developments and innovations in Dutch concrete, especially with regard to surface finishes. Historic concrete in the Netherlands is thus specific enough to require a dedicated study. Inaddition to this, the commonality of the history of concrete in different countries makes the relevance of this study broader than the Dutch case.

Knowledge on historic concrete is increasingly relevant, as conservation of historic buildings dating from the 19th and 20th century internationally emerges as a new field within heritage care. This period is characterised by both architectural and structural innovations and by novel construction materials, of which (reinforced) concrete is probably the most important. Although a growing number of concrete buildings is listed as monuments, conservation specialists have still to become acquainted with the history and properties of historic concrete. Even though the structural history is frequently addressed, only little is known about the composition and surface finish of historic concrete.