Last year’s congress at Hong Kong was opened by chairman Iain Peter.
GRCA reflects on last year’s success
01 March 2006
The International Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete Association (GRCA) completed a significant milestone with its smooth incorporation into The Concrete Society of the UK as a special interest group.
“The International Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete Association (GRCA) has existed independently as a trade association serving the GRC industry for 30 years, bringing together all those with an interest in glassfibre reinforced concrete,” says a spokesman for the association. “The new arrangement brings improved services to GRC Group members including automatic membership of The Concrete Society with access to its facilities and receipt of journals. At the same time, GRCA officials are freed of administrative duties, thereby allowing a greater concentration on working in technical and marketing areas for the benefit of the membership. Useful benefits are already coming from the new structure and these are set to grow,” he adds.
The other highlight of last year was the successful staging of the 14th International Congress of the Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete Association, GRC 2005, in Hong Kong last November.
Elaborating on the event he says: “The event, which took place for the first time outside Europe, reflected the international nature of the industry and membership of the association. Last year’s congress was widely acclaimed as a great success, with well over 100 conference delegates consisting of GRC producers, materials and equipment suppliers, architects, contractors and consultants arriving from 25 countries including 25 delegates who arrived from China. Together with a small exhibition, the congress proved an excellent occasion for participants to obtain the latest information on the science, production and use of glassfibre reinforced concrete.
“Chris Stanley, chairman of the Hong Kong Concrete Repair Association, made particular reference to changing building styles and recent landmarks and set the scene well for a conference on a modern building material.
“The technical programme continued with papers on a wide variety of GRC topics that included the following sessions:
Production technology: It included papers on the aesthetic and durability aspects of GRC, rubber moulds technology, the new Spraymix production method for GRC and related equipment, presented by specialists from India, Germany and UK.
Innovation and research: This session featured papers on the properties of GRC using recycled material (Japan), the alkali resistance of glassfibre (UK/China), special sulphate-resisting cement for GRC application (China), and the statistical properties of glassfibre strength in textile reinforcement of concrete (Germany).
Technology, design and testing: It included a paper by quality control specialist Richard Sumners on the use of radio frequency identification, a very topical subject, for quality control in the GRC industry. Daniel Senecaut from local producer Redland Precast gave a paper on the ‘Practical Design of GRC in Hong Kong’; and Hiram Ball from the US talked on the ‘25 years Experience of Polymer Modified GFRC’.
New products and application: This session spoke on the development of highly functional GRC (Japan), bridge cornices with GFRC lost formwork (Czech Republic), GRC in North America, GRC as an alternative material for low-cost, and GRC poles made by the filament winding process (US).
Project reports: Described work from US, Central America, Europe and China. The paper on ‘The Powerhouse Home’ described an energy-efficient home design from the US with GRC skins over a highly-insulated structure. The new Formula 1 motor racing circuit in Istanbul, Turkey, where GRC-clad buildings are used extensively was featured in the paper ‘Fibrobeton Catches the Speed of Formula 1’. A novel construction system from Puerto Rico was explained in ‘The IBS prefab system’. Chinese company Nanjing Beilida described GRC work in architectural buildings and re-creation work.
Market development and reviews: This session turned to more commercial issues. Ian White posed the question: ‘Durability - A problem or not a problem?’ and after a thoughtful review of history and research concluded that GRC has withstood the test of time. The Concrete Society chief executive Martin Powell gave a well-received paper ‘The Balanced Scorecard: The Inputs and Outputs of a Relationship with your Professional or Product Association’.
The theme of Stephan Liozu was ‘Promoting and Protecting our Industry’, in essence an exhortation to all to follow the best standards and be prepared to invest including supporting the industry associations.
