Cement and Concrete Research 114 (2018) 103–114

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Cement and Concrete Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cemconres

Education for sustainable use of cement based materials T

a,⁎ b c
Wolfram Schmidt , Mark Alexander , Vanderley John
a
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, Berlin, Germany
b
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
c
University of Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo, Brazil

A B S T R A C T

Structural design and application have always been linked to the compressive strength of concrete as the main
relevant criterion. This was justifiable in the past, where concrete consisted of water, ordinary Portland cement
and aggregates, but this concept is no longer relevant for modern and more sustainable cement and concrete.
Despite these new developments, existing standards, guidelines and academic curricula have not been much
updated and are still used worldwide. There is a need to change this situation by proper education of the users.
This overview describes the challenges that arise at a user level from the higher complexity of modern
concrete, and defines needs and requirements for enhanced applicability of sustainable concrete concepts.
Furthermore, recommendations are given on how better concrete practice can be communicated to all the in-
volved parties, from civil and design engineers to constructors and site-appliers on the construction site.

1. Motivation layout, but in reality, the main option to improve durability and sus-
tainability of structures is to develop materials with a better resistance
The climate change forces the construction industry to rapidly im- against the relevant load cases and environmental attack. Regarding
plement innovations globally. This automatically brings challenges to design of structural elements, which is typically based on probabilistic
engineers, architects and other disciplines involved in construction. approaches to minimise the failure probability, it is indeed possible to
Standardised solutions as in the past are typically not optimised to be use lower safety margins, but once again, this is only possible if the
sustainable and cannot cope with the high diversity and complexity of material properties are understood and can be adjusted in a reliable and
today's construction materials. More performance and knowledge robust way.
driven approaches will be required in the future, particularly with re- Over the past 20–30 years, substantial improvements in materials
gard to material competences. technology have been made. Future technologies and challenges such as
Inevitably, only cement and concrete are able to meet the demand tailored hydration, strength, ductility, 3d-printing, overcoming the
for infrastructure and human habitat all over the world. Despite its pumping height limitations or casting at extreme climatic conditions or
negative perception in society, concrete is one of the most en- challenging frameworks (e.g. offshore) are very much related to ma-
vironmentally friendly materials compared to other materials, on the terials technologies. Understanding of the properties, particularly the
basis of its CO2 footprint in relation to the massive volumes that are interactions of the binders with the other constituents, has advanced
consumed globally [1]. Nevertheless, the enormous existing and pre- enormously [3–15]. Consequently, it is today possible to build much
dicted global production volumes makes it necessary to use cement and more environmentally and economically friendly and sustainable con-
concrete in more innovative and intelligent knowledge-based ways to crete structures with cement-based materials. A new mind-set regarding
ensure sustainable and more efficient usage [2]. Understanding mate- cement and binders has brought enormous improvements in en-
rial properties is the key to innovation in construction. The potential for vironmentally friendly applications, and chemical admixtures and mi-
enhanced performance, more sustainable construction and innovation neral additions can incorporate supplementary benefits by enhancing
largely lies in the materials. the workability without compromising other relevant properties [16].
The calculation of forces and stresses within a structure has limited Today, concrete can be tailored to its specific application, and a variety
innovation potential as it strictly follows well-known physical laws. of binders exists that go far beyond traditional ordinary Portland ce-
Some improvements may be made by giving attention to more efficient ment. Strength alone is no longer the most relevant design parameter
usage of cross-sections and to material saving structural form and for concrete structures, but rather functional and performance

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (W. Schmidt), [email protected] (M. Alexander), [email protected] (V. John).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2017.08.009
Received 19 August 2016; Received in revised form 31 March 2017; Accepted 9 August 2017
Available online 24 September 2017
0008-8846/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
W. Schmidt et al. Cement and Concrete Research 114 (2018) 103–114

properties such as durability and sustainability. particle packing [19] and water reducing chemical admixtures [20,21],
Despite the potential to make positive changes based on better un- the perception of concrete was that it was mainly a three component
derstanding of the material, civil engineering curricula typically do not material made from binder, aggregate, and water, with ordinary Port-
place sufficient emphasis on the high complexity of construction ma- land cement as the binder acting as the ‘glue’ for the aggregates. The
terials, in comparison with structural design or management aspects. In hardened cement paste was considered the weakest component, and all
architectural curricula a strong focus is put on social acceptance, effi- materials smaller than 125 μm were allocated to the powder fraction,
cient use and living comfort, which are certainly issues of highest re- which had no further relevance in terms of concrete design. It was
levance for sustainable usage of buildings, but the education related to widely accepted that the resulting strength varied between a few up to
materials is often focused more on aesthetics and design rather than on approximately 45–50 MPa, depending largely upon the cement content
technical and environmental performance. This is understandable from and the water-cement ratio (w/c), which expresses the mass ratio of
a historical point of view, where civil engineering calculations and water to cement. The w/c was also the main parameter for mix design
architectural designs were conducted largely manually, while the methods that basically focus on the 28-day compressive strength and
number of possible materials was limited. However, today, due to the Young's Modulus.
massive use of computerised technologies calculations can be con- Today, much of this has changed. Better understanding of cement
ducted at significantly higher precision with significantly less effort, chemistry combined with options to modify mixture compositions with
while the number of materials has multiplied. Hence, the focus of en- mineral additions and chemical admixtures have permitted multiple
gineering education needs to be adapted to this demand. The current design options and tailored performances [16,22–24]. With modern
lack of serious engagement with materials carries through to the entire plasticisers and superplasticisers, the workability no longer depends
group of appliers and users of cement and concrete such as individuals, mainly on the water content and is thus no longer a major performance-
associations, government agencies and the like. In conjunction with its limiting factor [6,25]. Mineral additions that act as fillers or supple-
ubiquity and sometimes uncreative use in urban environments seriously mentary reactive materials can be used to influence the fine powder
impacts on the indifferent and false perception of the general public system down to a scale of micrometres or even nanometres [26–28]. We
that concrete is low-tech, unimaginative, and environmentally un- now have far more sustainable binder types other than plain Portland
friendly. The current situation in comparison to the potentials is illu- cement. These can outperform traditional binders, but usually have
strated in Fig. 1. different evolution of their properties over time; consequently, struc-
The lack of interest in material properties in education can be tural design codes based on 28-day compressive strength values no
considered as a major mistake, because relevant capacities are not longer have an undisputed raison d'être. Further, the major innovation
being developed for the next generation of engineers and decision- potential in concrete as a material lies in the formerly largely neglected
makers who could really effect the major changes needed towards more “powder fraction”, a dimensional scale below 125 μm [29–33]. All this
knowledge-based, innovation-driven and sustainable concrete con- means that significantly greater materials science capacity has to be
struction [17]. To build in a more responsible way with cement and built up in concrete technology and practice.
concrete, professionals and users must operate in an interdisciplinary Despite the ongoing developments in binders, fillers, and ad-
environment and develop the ability to go beyond their own areas of mixtures, existing design codes and building practices are mainly based
expertise. on traditional concrete. Standards and guidelines have in general not
kept pace with new constituents such as fibres, or modern concrete
construction techniques such as highly flowable concrete and high
2. Important differences between concrete of the past and strength concrete. Certainly, new methods have been introduced for
concrete in the future, and the resultant demand for more durability such as chloride migration, carbonation, and corrosion as-
knowledge-driven approaches sessment; nevertheless, design codes and performance assessment tools
struggle to cope with the wider variety of concrete constituents and new
Since its invention in the middle of the 19th century until ap- construction methods. This applies particularly for the variety of ce-
proximately three decades ago, applied concrete technology changed mentitious binders for concrete, where results are strongly affected by
incrementally and relatively slowly. Although understanding increased the clinker chemistry and the ionic composition of the pore solution
significantly and some of the current applied knowledge was available [34–38]. Due to the incapability to look at individual cases and the
already in the early 20th century (e.g. slag blended cements [18],

Fig. 1. Barriers for sustainable concrete design, and po-

tentials and requirements for enhancement.

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requirement to cover also the worst case, standards even often enforce The future of concrete technology therefore lies in the intercept
unsustainable use of materials, e.g. by demanding for unnecessarily between materials science, including chemical and physical disciplines,
high resistance against chloride ingress or carbonation even in the ab- and structural engineering and architecture. The challenges of concrete
sence of reinforcement. Therefore, it is a must for future engineers and technology today are no longer strength related. The future challenges
appliers to understand the fundamental principles, and to question lie in understanding interactions between organic and inorganic com-
existing empirical principles in standards and guidelines, in order to ponents, tailored rheology, modified hydration, durability in different
have a sound evaluation of future concrete types. environments, and particularly in finding new resources for mineral
In concrete standards and guidelines, additions such as fly ash, binders.
ground granulated blast furnace slag, or limestone fillers have become To summarise: while progress has been made in concrete materials,
commonly accepted as materials that generally reduce concrete costs design codes and the public perception of concrete are still related to
and enhance performance. Possible alternatives to these SCMs do not traditional concrete. Due to new binders and chemical admixtures,
obtain the same acceptance in the market, although various research modern concrete has little in common with concrete of the past, and
studies have shown evidence for their feasibility [39–51]. The reason concrete in the future will have little in common with today's concrete.
for the lower acceptance can be found in the greater performance Scientists, engineers, and decision makers must be prepared for these
variations and the lower level of experience. For example, it has been developments. Without closing the gap between materials and struc-
shown by various authors that the promising technology of using cal- tural designers, without raising the awareness of architects to benefit
cined clays as supplementary cementitious materials needs specific from modern concrete technology, without changing the public per-
considerations with regard to the raw material sources, supply chains ception of cement and concrete, without increasing the awareness of
and processing, due to the high variability in the chemistry and solu- best practice in users, it will be challenging to implement the benefits
bility [52–57]. For silica rich agricultural by-products such as rice husk that have been created on the part of the materials in practice.
ash, it was shown that they can affect the workability, mechanical
properties and durability both positively and negatively [44,57–60], 3. Improving education at university level
but the variable results can be explained by causes such as the burning
process and the calcination temperatures, or the grinding fineness Civil engineering curricula are often focused on physical and
[59,61,62]. All materials options that will have to be considered today mathematical disciplines or on management issues. Aspects of materials
and in the future will make it impossible to find general purpose so- performance and chemistry play a minor role for average civil en-
lutions and without the relevant knowledge background a sound gineering students, and often students do not understand why they are
practical implementation is hardly possible. taught chemistry, which limits their enthusiasm [64]. In the past, the
The much greater variety of raw materials is therefore a great performance of ‘typical’ concretes was predictable based on a limited
challenge for concrete technology on the one hand, but on the other number of parameters, and so this approach was valid. However, with
hand it now offers enormous potential for more sustainable construc- increasing global scarcity of raw materials and with the ongoing role of
tion solutions, as long as the material parameters are well understood. civil engineers in extracting huge amounts of natural materials from the
Understanding the interactions between the components also offers a earth, it has become necessary to shift the curriculum focus more to
much better possibility for best-practice solutions. However, the variety materials education.
also increases the complexity and reduces the reproducibility, thus The variety of cementitious binders for concrete today and in the
possibly making traditional prescriptive approaches obsolete. Bias or future makes it necessary to understand their important role in concrete
lack of materials skills limits and possibly excludes viable and sus- structures. The same applies for concretes that contain high amounts of
tainable solutions. Once again, awareness and knowledge are keys to advanced admixtures and additions to modify the performance prop-
sustainable construction. erties at the time of the casting. Such concretes offer the highest sus-
Cement and concrete properties can be reasonably well explained tainability potential, but they differ so greatly from traditionally vi-
and predicted today by application of scientific methods and knowl- brated concrete that former concepts in teaching concrete technology
edge. However, this knowledge mainly resides within the scientific will not serve their purpose.
community and has not yet permeated through all sectors involved in Since sustainable innovations come mostly from the materials' as-
concrete construction. As mentioned, design codes universally still have pects rather than from structural or management aspects, it is important
regulations and rules largely based on traditional concepts. There is also to understand that advances in materials science and technology
wide scepticism towards modern concrete technology, since it is easier change the way the that structural design is carried out and in which
to give preference to the reliability and simplicity of the traditional construction processes are conducted. For example, stronger and denser
methods, rather than to the versatility and potentials of more modern materials allow for smaller cross sections and less reinforcement cover,
concepts that demand more knowledge. and flowable concretes have the potential to allow faster construction
Particularly in the Northern hemisphere, which has largely domi- schedules than with traditionally vibrated concrete. This also must in-
nated developments in cementitious binders in past decades, pressure fluence education in the structural and management disciplines, and all
for re-crafting the traditional approaches is still not high. Established these aspects cannot be taught in isolation of each other. The relevance
processes seem to function well, and the major driving force for con- of materials has to be accepted and new concepts need to be developed,
struction is simply maintenance of the status quo. Due to the stagnating in order to prepare students for current materials technology and to
cement market, innovation is an economic risk for the market players. facilitate the implementation of future developments in materials.
However, this situation is different in many developing regions in the According to Gettu [64] concrete technology is often taught following a
world, where the driving force is urgently required construction in typical textbook structure, starting with the constituents, followed by
housing and infrastructure. Hence, innovation in these regions can be a properties and finishing with application. This concept possibly needs
market driver. In addition, cement markets in developing areas such as to be changed since neither properties nor application can be con-
Africa or India are expected to grow significantly [63], which increases sidered isolated from the constituents. Either a second reflection loop
the pressure for innovation enormously, not only with regard to the cost about constituents or a permanent reference to the relevance of the
of construction but particularly with regard to sustainability of con- constituents could be an option to raise the awareness for more sus-
struction and the scarcity of raw materials. Therefore, the rapid im- tainable construction based on more efficient usage of available mate-
plementation of sustainable concrete concepts is of highest importance rials.
particularly in the developing world, and this will have the highest Raising the awareness for sustainable cement and concrete tech-
global impact. nologies thus means that educators need to teach performance based

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Fig. 2. Structural concrete design paths.

concepts rather than prescriptive concepts, which typically consider motivate students for challenging thematic areas [70,72,73]. Im-
only minimum performance requirements. This has to be supplemented plementation of this requires that changes be made on all levels, in-
by a focus on environmental impact reduction and possible cost savings cluding education policies and industries that eventually benefit from
in order to justify the greater effort involved. This also means that the higher skills.
curricula need to put a stronger focus on environmental sciences. Thus, a more holistic approach is required for engineering educa-
Students need to be trained on specific constructional problem areas in tion, which can be implemented by putting a stronger focus on inter-
relation to realistic cement and concrete performances. For example, a disciplinarity, global issues and diversity in education [64,65,74,75]. A
certain culture has arisen that holds that only high strength values are first step would be to overcome the isolation between structural,
desirable and positive, although in many applications, e.g. non-struc- management and materials disciplines. The increasing use of computer
tural or functional, lower strengths are acceptable. High strength con- technology in structural engineering may provide the capacity to invest
crete is only required if the high strength is utilised in the structural more educational time into materials and natural sciences. However, it
design, or results in higher durability. Also, with modern binders, high is also required to emphasise the mutual dependence of materials and
strength does not automatically translate into higher durability. structures in all civil engineering disciplines. Scientific education in
Students, therefore, should be taught rather to develop the best avail- materials engineering requires more time-intensive laboratory training,
able concept given the existing boundary conditions and performance which might conflict with the universities' interest in recognised re-
requirements. This, according to [65], demands that education should search, and may require a re-think of university reward systems [76].
trigger the creativity and innovativeness of students rather than edu- Universities will also have to think about ways and funding to maintain
cating them to be plain problem solvers. Game-based learning (GBL) the aptitude of teachers and professor to train students on a state of the
and project-based learning (PBL) has been reported to change the art level and to increase their scientific capacity in a rapidly changing
educational experience of students it the right approach can be found environment.
[66–71]. Quizzes, tests and competitions can be another viable tool to Most academic teaching in civil engineering is not fundamental but

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W. Schmidt et al. Cement and Concrete Research 114 (2018) 103–114

Fig. 3. Items of binder technology that demand for conversion tools

for engineering application.

rather includes application of design and specification standards. From varied flow properties, the root cause for which is often difficult to
the perspective of the industry, standards are the required toolkit for a identify [81]. The higher number and variety of materials that are used
smooth start in the construction industry. Therefore, to a certain extent, as SCMs can create problems related to setting, alkali silica reaction,
it is unavoidable to teach materials along with standards and their efflorescence and microstructural effects, which affect durability and
application, but it is of utmost importance to raise awareness that strength [39]. These problems are typically scientifically understood
standards are limited in their applicability and can and do change. It is and can be solved based on understanding the system [54], but the
therefore better to train students on basic scientific skills, with less variety of possible performances affects the trust of users in new ma-
teaching on standardised solution concepts, which it can be expected terials technologies. Computerised tools (e.g. [82–84]. can help to
could still be acquired in practice. The latter expectation, however, will overcome lack of materials understanding to a certain extent, but the
demand that industry identify the advantage of skilled scientific de- innovation potential is thereby limited. Ideally, the construction in-
velopers over tightly focused appliers and take on some training as- dustry itself should facilitate education within industry, by keeping up
pects. with the state of the art and by providing tools that help practitioners
understand the materials aspects. For example, cement terminology
4. Continuous education of practitioners and the industry provides information about certain properties of cement, such as the
SCM type and amount of clinker (according to EN and ASTM stan-
It is a reality that, with modern cement variety, and particularly dards), but this information is not always useful for concrete producers
with heavily blended cements, concrete properties improve over a who mainly target strength and durability and cannot afford to spend
longer period of time beyond 28 days; this may result for example in much time on sophisticated mixture composition. Thus, easy ‘transla-
strength exceeding the design strength, yielding an un-economic over- tion’ tools are needed for practitioners (for example where priority is
design of the structure [77–80]. While the focus on the 28-day com- given to performance specifications rather than to binder composition)
pressive strength is very well established, the perception of it as the that help to make the best available binder selection (see Fig. 3). Future
only relevant parameter for the assessment of the concrete quality and standard generations could facilitate their dissemination and impact.
durability needs to be enriched with other performance properties.
The strong focus on the 28-day compressive strength value together 5. Improving the education of construction workers and self-
with prescriptive durability design concepts such as in EN 206, do not builders
contribute to sustainable use of concrete. The exposure class require-
ments typically outweigh the static strength requirements, causing Concrete is a ‘forgiving’ material that performs relatively well even
structural elements to have significantly higher strengths than needed if it is applied by unskilled workers. However, it is an unavoidable side
from a structural point of view (Fig. 2a). Not only is this undesirable effect of more knowledge-based materials concepts, that the application
with regard to the more brittle behaviour of such over-designed ma- becomes more diverse and complicated [1]. This also requires a sig-
terials, but it is an environmentally unacceptable waste of material. nificantly higher level of awareness on the part of the users responsible
Therefore, in case of over-design, for economic and environmental for the final placing and finishing processes. These process steps – if
reasons a second design loop is required, based on the finally de- poorly implemented - compromise the entire performance of a structure
termined strength class (after application of the exposure class re- over its lifetime. For example, self-compacting concrete (SCC) was de-
quirements or after knowing the real concrete strength after testing veloped at least partly due to reduced skills of construction workers and
samples) to avoid wastage of material (Fig. 2b). Ideally, structural, the reduced durability of structures [85,86]. Research in SCC triggered
architectural and materials aspects should be combined in the planning a large number of new concrete developments over recent decades,
phase, as presented in Fig. 2c. At this stage, it is possible to incorporate such as high strength concrete, strain hardening cementitious compo-
material performances directly into the structural and architectural sites, and 3D printing technologies. However, the resulting systems
design, e.g. by creating more slender elements or longer spans. were even more difficult to implement for operators due to the in-
However, in applied practice, a large number of parameters de- creasing number of interacting constituents. With more complicated
termine the outcome, such as supply chains, coordination of sub- materials, the issue of robust application becomes more important
contractors, construction schedules, and cost reduction. Often these [83,87–89]. Therefore, maybe more than any other factor, investment
other aspects are given priority, since cost is directly linked to per- in the education of construction workers and self-builders amounts to
sonnel costs, and savings can be calculated immediately, which is not investment in a sustainable and durable built environment.
the case for materials. It is therefore, challenging to raise awareness on While in most industrialised countries the relevance of the end-ap-
sustainable use of concrete for practitioners. In addition, practitioners plier's skill can be compensated largely by process automation and
are often sceptical about changes in the materials. The complicated machinery, and institutionalised quality control systems exist, in most
interactions between superplasticisers and cement hydration can cause developing countries the workers' skills are critical for the safety and

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durability of buildings. In many developing countries, construction • Higher-grade cement is not automatically better than lower grade
work is one of the few opportunities available for unskilled workers cement. In particular, at high temperatures, where hydration is
[90]. Since the major future growth markets for cement and concrete generally rapid, lower grade cement types can be the better choice,
are located in regions of the developing world [63], from a global even if rapid hardening is required. For some applications, e.g. brick
perspective there is an enormous requirement to put more emphasis on laying, lower strength cementitious binder is beneficial.
training of end-appliers and construction workers. Due to this global • The awareness that concrete processing must include sound curing
relevance, the problem should be tackled globally and local govern- processes is vital for durable structural performance of concrete.
ments should not be left alone with this challenge. • The fact that cement stored in the open or in unprotected bags in
In many growth areas of the world, the relevance of the informal humid climatic conditions can compromise the concrete workability
construction sector, which plays an important role in developing and quality [96]. It is therefore important to ensure adequate sto-
countries, is increasing [90,91]. The informal construction sector is an rage conditions.
important part of the overall construction business that mostly operates
outside or on the brim of legal frameworks. For example, an assessment Major tools for education therefore can be information campaigns
of emerging contractors from the Eastern Cape region in South Africa driven by industry and governmental agencies that inform in user-
identified a large scatter in the performance between poor and excellent sensitive language about the relevance of good practice in concrete
quality construction execution [92]. Only 60% of the assessed con- operations. From the governmental perspective, these can be courses,
tractors were capable of executing activities without assistance, how- mentorship programmes and information handouts.
ever, some also provided excellent performance. The study also showed Online courses and information websites can be supplementary
that training could raise performance assessment from “fair” to tools to convey the relevant information. From the industry perspective,
“average and good”. Considering that the observed emerging con- this can be for example the provision of free information sheets or in-
tractors already operated at the threshold between formal and informal structional pictograms on cement bags. For example, pictograms on
business, this suggests that enormous potentials lie in the development cement bags that are sometimes used to provide instructions for the
of end-appliers' skills. save and correct use of cement (Fig. 4) can also be used to provide
In developing countries, equipment for concrete construction is information about the sustainable use of cement. Also the installation of
often less automated than in developed countries, and the number of information tables on construction sites can be a very useful tool to
quality control steps during the construction process is less, so that the train workers on the construction site. A good example for the effec-
number of human errors is significantly larger than within the process tiveness of such methods is reported from the construction site for the
chains in developed countries. Contractors and civil engineers often new international airport terminal in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Warning
report that they prefer to build with a significant strength margin in signs, painted by local artist (Fig. 5), placed all over the construction
order to compensate for poor workmanship or unexpectedly low ce- site significantly contributed to an ongoing period of more than 5
ment strength. In addition, due to financial restrictions or limited million man hours without fatality or loss of time induced by accidents
availability of chemical agents such as retarders or superplasticisers, since the beginning in January 2016 until the date of this paper. These
under high temperature conditions often the only option to control the numbers are extremely rare in mega projects like this, which involve
workability on a construction site is the addition of water. Site-mixed thousands of employees and subcontractors in various disciplines, and
concrete is often used instead of ready-mixed concrete, and conse- it shows that the concept can possibly go beyond safety instructions to
quently the cement constituents are stored on the construction site and be extended to good cement and concrete practice, as well.
often exposed to the weather. The resulting contamination of cement
and aggregates and uncontrolled and excessive water content can have 6. What government agencies can do
fatal consequences for a structure, creating risks for life and limb as well
as significantly reduced lifetimes for buildings. A recent chapter of the IEA that provides “Guidelines for Education”
Further, in many developing countries, labour rates are often very in context with sustainable building construction [97] recommends to
low, and completely unskilled workers with no background in con- start education for sustainable building already at school and pre-school
struction may be hired on a daily basis [90,93]. In addition, many level, for example by installing team projects or following ecological
concrete works are conducted in do-it-yourself manner. While this does philosophies in daily educational operation. The report refers to a
not automatically result in poor workmanship, learning from unskilled number of governmental initiatives such as the European “Carbon de-
mentors makes it very unlikely for innovation to occur. Without a clear tectives” programme, the Japanese programme “Build a house with the
educational target, the education quality is therefore random. The lowest EC” or the UNEP initiative “ECO-SCHOOLS”, where schools can
target oriented implementation of training for end-appliers demands a obtain a Green Flag for their commitment to the environment. Educa-
massive involvement of a variety of stakeholders, including govern- tional activities certainly translate into raised awareness of future
mental institutions, construction industry boards, and the financial generations to the problem area of sustainability, and it will affect all
sector [92]. levels from self-builder to engineer. Hence, certainly school projects
Technological improvements on site often do not demand highly related to materials can become essential contributions towards more
sophisticated knowledge, but rather awareness of fundamental rules of sustainable building, but it will be important to maintain the awareness
good practice. However, the responsibility for the implementation lies throughout the future education and career of the children.
in the hands of the end-appliers, and the following points can be noted: On the research level, Paris et al. [39] indicate that there are many
potential options for producing more sustainable concrete construction,
• Knowledge about the importance of the water-cement ratio for the but the research community must first fill the knowledge gaps, mainly
strength and durability of concrete, and the importance of avoiding in the field of durability and performance. The translation from re-
uncontrolled addition of water which contributes to lower concrete search into practice is typically difficult and requires initial funding
performance. [98]. However, research based pilot projects are required to raise the
• Knowledge about the effect of superplasticisers and retarders can public perception of sustainable construction solutions, and they are
contribute to better workability and performance. Particularly re- important for education as role models for the benefits of knowledge-
tarders, which are often based on citric acid or tartaric acid, can based solutions. This is where government agencies can play a major
have positive effects and can be applied – though with care – by role, since they can support practice-relevant pilot projects, but they
unskilled workers. Alternative construction chemicals also exist also have to invest into their own skill development in order to make
[94,95] the right decision and invest in sustainable projects.

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Fig. 4. Example of user instructions on cement bags in Rwanda (courtesy of CIMERWA).

Government agencies such as highway or waterway authorities can end-user level. Provision of target-oriented educational schemes could
also play a key role in changing the public and political mind-set and be the major important role of governmental agencies. Although there
technology perception. Government regulations and application is general agreement about the importance of education, end-appliers
guidelines are often self-contained sets of rules with different philoso- often consider training activities an unnecessary expense rather than an
phies from those of the standards. They can be stricter than existing investment, and tend to participate in schemes only if they are re-
standards, but at the same time much more innovative and performance imbursed for the lost time. Employers in developing countries are often
oriented. Although a more knowledge-driven approach is re- not willing to pay for educational courses, and they sometimes fear that
commended in this observation, today practitioners and academics are their higher educated staff might change to another employer [90]. A
trained on these regulations. Also job training typically focuses on major challenge is therefore to develop sound funding schemes with a
knowledge of regulations rather than on fundamentals. Therefore, fair allocation of the cost burden for all interested parties, as well as to
government agencies have the power to act as a role model for more find a way to reward those employers that invest in education. Gov-
sustainable construction. Governmental agencies can typically provide ernmental agencies can create relevant networks of stakeholders in
the resources and perseverance to invest in sustainability and long-term more sustainable construction businesses, and they can act as strategic
performance rather than simply to consider maximum savings during drivers. The observation of the performance of emerging contractors in
construction. Hence, they can create pilot projects and practice to be the Eastern Cape region in South Africa has shown that training under
adopted by appliers and academia. Due to their close link with stake- the authority of governmental and industrial agencies can be successful
holders and practitioners as well as to regulatory institutions, govern- [92]. However, it demands strong involvement of local, regional or
ment agencies have the power to communicate good practice effectively national bodies, in order to ensure rigorous management, good quality
to all relevant parties. control, and financial expertise [90,92]. Also in [99] it is reported, that
Government networks are also an important factor for education at strong partners, motivated individuals and good relations among the

Fig. 5. Example of warning signs, as placed all over the

airport terminal construction site in Dar es Salaam to sig-
nificantly contribute to construction site safety.

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involved stakeholders are key to successful cooperation. This is where previously, MOOCs are particularly efficient for people who have a
governmental institution can offer support by awarding the commit- natural interest in the learning material. In most developed countries,
ment of individuals and institutions. the number of available educational instruments and the number of
those interested is in good equilibrium. In this case MOOCs may be an
7. Role of media and online learning tools alternative learning tool as a supplement to existing structures. How-
ever, in the developing world, the number of interested learners far
In an age of global communication and social media, learning tools exceeds the opportunities for education. Physical access to knowledge
have rapidly changed. Social media and online search tools provide and education is only available to a small number of people. Therefore,
access to an enormous wealth of data for many people in the world. At the benefits of MOOCs could well be exploited particularly in countries
the same time, it has become more challenging to filter the relevant of the developing world.
data. Learning tools and processes are continually changing and This is of great relevance for the education in cement and concrete
bringing about a potential revolution in the way we learn. So-called technology, since from a global perspective, education in sustainable
massive open online courses (MOOC) or E-distance learning options concrete practice is of much higher relevance in the developing world
allow a high number of participants to obtain knowledge independent than in the developed world. Africa, Latin America, and Asia are pre-
of the location of the participants. Due to their near-universal accessi- dicted to undergo a remarkable increase in cement demand in the fu-
bility, they have the potential to overcome historic obstacles to ture [63,113] due to the needed concrete consumption. This means,
knowledge access such as spatial distance, time of the day, language, while enhanced technologies in Europe will only have a limited global
and possibly financial capacity. In addition, the possibility to repeat the climate impact, the same enhancements will have a massive global ef-
learning material as well as to supplement the content with visual ef- fect when implemented in rapidly growing situations of the developing
fects can be seen as a strong benefit over traditional learning [100]. world. The potentials for implementation of best practice in cement and
There is evidence of the functioning of such online facilities as concrete in developing countries are enormous, since the best tech-
reasonable tools for knowledge distribution in various fields of educa- nologies can be introduced at the beginning of the construction up-
tion [72,101–104]. However, Brahimi and Sarirete [104] observed the swing [17]. Hence, functioning educational tools are multipliers for
distribution of courses offered within the most popular MOOC platform sustainable construction.
Coursera, which offers 65% of all MOOCs worldwide, and found that In the same way that Africa became a global pioneer in daily use of
MOOCs are more popular in the areas of computers, humanities, social mobile phone technology by skipping established landline technology
sciences, health and society, as well as biology and life sciences. En- [114], similar evolutions are realistic for concrete technology in de-
gineering only makes up about 4% within this platform, indicating that veloping areas by avoiding those errors of the past, which still affect
improvement potentials exists. existing concrete practice, standards, application rules and curricula.
A number of questions were raised by researchers that need to be Communication technology and sustainable construction technology
solved to enhance the available courses, such as lack of direct contact can even be linked by the development of useful smartphone applica-
with the instructor [72,105], and the requirement of previous knowl- tions, such as best practice training courses, supplementary application
edge and physical access [100,106]. Dropout rates of MOOCs can be specifications or quality control of cement bags via QR-code scan.
higher than 90% and participation patterns are very unequal However, for sound implementation of sustainable cement and concrete
[100,105,107,108], which according to Clow is related to the lower technologies education at all levels is the key. In environments where
level of initial commitment. According to some researchers, e-learning educational institutes are scarce and scattered, information technology
courses are attended more by male students [68,103]. Ho et al. [109] can provide access to education and technologies. With all the afore-
who evaluated data from 17 HarvardX and MITx courses between the mentioned criticism of MOOCs, for most people in the world access to
fall of 2012 and summer 2013. In this study, the typical course re- learning tools, even if they are mediocre, is significantly better than no
gistrant was a male with a bachelor's degree, older than 26. There were access to education at all. For bridging the gap between materials sci-
only 29% female registrants. It was furthermore observed that parti- ence and engineering, MOOCs could therefore play the following roles,
cularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by providing:
courses female registrations were low.
Although researchers note that MOOCs raise concerns about future • Supplementary knowledge sources for interested students at in-
higher education and will play a significant role in education in the stitutions that do not offer materials and natural science courses
future, there is common agreement that it is too early to generalize their • A link between academic and applied research for non-academics
educational efficiency. The teaching efficiency of MOOCs depends a lot • Training centres for practitioners
on the clarity, length of course, visualization elements, and support and
communication, and the learning effect depends on a variety of factors In order to create benefit globally for improved cement and concrete
such as linguistic skills, persistence, and the background of the learners education, priority must be given to modules suited to the developing
[100,103]. Therefore, the courses may benefit those who learn quickly world. This means that courses have to be multi-lingual, address the
also in the traditional way, but even disadvantage those who do not relevant target groups, and consider limited connectivity and usability
[66,100,110]. In general, MOOCs are considered as useful for niche with low-end devices. In order to avoid exclusion, the courses must be
education and as supplemental to existing educational tools rather than made accessible for free or at a reasonable budget. Specific considera-
as a replacement [66,104,107,109,111,112]. tions should also be made to increase the number of female students in
These observations do not seem to recommend MOOCs as a better or STEM education. Solutions need to be found for how to incorporate the
more efficient way of teaching and learning, particularly in engineering important hands-on experience into the curriculum. Governmental
disciplines where pure digital experience can hardly replace hands-on agencies, international funding bodies, as well as industries can play a
experiences. However, it is necessary to look at the potentials of MOOCs major role in finding the best solutions.
for different regions in the world. A survey of MOOCs in health and Hence, in order to develop reasonable IT-based learning tools for
medicine showed that 94% of all offers were in English and a large sustainable use of cement and concrete, the relevant competencies need
majority was offered by providers from North America [102]. Only to be provided by civil engineers, materials scientists and natural sci-
three out of 98 MOOCs were offered by institutions from the developing entists to deliver materials based solutions and fundamental scientific
world. Also, the study by Ho et al. [109] showed that only 2.7% of the backgrounds. This is summarised in Fig. 6. They cannot replace in-
attendees had IPs from developing countries. Clearly, offers and users of stitutional or professional education in those places where good edu-
MOOCs come mainly from the developed world. As pointed out cational infrastructure exists, but they can be ideal supplements for

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Fig. 6. Requirements for IT-based learning tools

to address the target groups adequately.

existing education for the benefit of students, engineers, and industry. interdisciplinary activities. Civil engineers and natural scientists have
In places, where access to institutional academic education is difficult different ways of thinking. While the engineer needs to simplify the
or no well-functioning educational systems exist, IT-based tools can fill details to understand the entire system, natural scientists try to un-
the gap. Furthermore, they can be considered as useful tools to inform derstand the details of an entire system. Both components are equally
relevant parties outside academia. important, but unfortunately bias and a lack of common language be-
tween the disciplines is rather common. Governments and industry
8. Required future actions associations need to connect the disciplines, assisted by academia, to
find a common language for training and education of the practitioners,
A change of mind-set towards more sustainable concrete technolo- and to point out that knowledge enhancement is an asset rather than an
gies is of highest global importance. At the same time, material based unnecessary cost factor.
solutions need to be found locally, which implies that more knowledge At the level of end-appliers, it will be challenging to transfer re-
is required within the concrete construction process. Due to the multi- quired knowledge for more sustainable concrete practice, since the
component character of the material and the local and global involve- perception of educational issues is often negative and the financial
ment of a vast range of industries and disciplines throughout the entire backbone is lacking. However, at the same time, this level is of the
process, it is of highest relevance to avoid weak links in the supply utmost importance due to the massive construction requirement in
chain resulting from lack of education of any of the involved parties. developing countries, where the informal sector is highly relevant and
This means that it is of utmost importance to invest more in materials projected concrete demand is increasing rapidly. A global effort will be
and natural science competencies in engineering and architectural required to develop tools that help the informal construction sector as
education, as well as in the education of practitioners and end-appliers. well as self-appliers to operate at the best available and sustainable
Governmental agencies play a prominent role in steering these educa- practice level. Investments are required by government and govern-
tional instruments, but therefore also require skill increase to identify mental agencies, by industries as well as academia, to cover the costs,
the relevance and to develop the best strategies. but this will be necessary and ultimately beneficial for the entire global
In current civil engineering and architectural academic curricula, concrete business. Governmental agencies need to compensate users
the focus on materials competences in general is small, given the fact and appliers for the costs of education, and industries can freely offer
that the construction industry has such a high impact on the global courses and handbooks. This must not be seen as an unnecessary cost,
climate. Academic institutions must realise that the major potential for but should be considered as strengthening the ‘concrete brand’. This in
sustainable construction can be found in new and future materials. return can be motivation for local governments financially to support
Therefore, more capacity is required in the curricula in fundamental those industries that invest in education, as strengthening of local
natural and materials sciences. The higher involvement in this area brands supports the local markets and ensures employment.
might be compensated by less focus on traditional mathematical and Due to the high relevance of the cement and concrete sector for
physical disciplines, which today require less fundamental education global development combined with the enormous environmental im-
due to computerisation. Such modification would represent a major pact of these materials, awareness of how to mitigate environmental
change in the profile of civil engineers, but this could be considered as a impact is of highest importance. This requires education on all levels,
positive opportunity. In many industrialised countries, fewer students which has to be funded. While universities can spearhead the tech-
pursue STEM studies due to the relatively low societal esteem of the nologies, governmental agencies in conjunction with industries have to
profession, while in other parts of the world, particularly emerging and develop networks for financing. Besides traditional courses and semi-
developing countries, STEM education is highly attractive due to a very nars, it will be important to make use of web-based teaching tools such
positive societal perception [65,74]. According to [75] engineering as MOOCs to enhance the global impact. There is still a vast improve-
curricula need to be exciting, creative, adventurous, rigorous, de- ment potential for MOOCs, but particularly in developing regions,
manding, and empowering. The best way for academic institutions to where access to education is limited, they can become a powerful tool
achieve this goal is to prepare the next generation of decision makers on for capacity building, while gained experiences in developing countries
the mitigation of the major global environmental challenges by raising can positively contribute to enhancement of the existing modules in the
materials competencies. developed world.
In professional education, it is important to raise the awareness of
global problems. ‘Business as usual’ is no longer an option. In the 9. Summary and conclusions
concrete area, where much of the knowledge remains within the in-
dividual disciplines, strategies are required to create more The potential of traditional civil engineering disciplines to mitigate

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the global environmental impact of concrete technology is limited, given to best practice application. In addition, since no technology
since the major potentials lie in new and future innovative materials, that is not financially viable will find a place in the market, the focus
which typically do not have significant presence in education of stu- of education should be on the technological and financial benefits.
dents and appliers. Therefore, awareness needs to be raised urgently, In this context, environmental friendliness can also be seen as a
that the higher complexity and versatility of modern concrete are the marketing tool. The relevant educational topics should comprise
keys to more sustainable building. awareness of the future challenges, best practice technologies, as
Concrete today has little in common with concrete of the past, and well as of the capacity to adapt future technologies rapidly. Further,
concrete of tomorrow will have little in common with today's concrete. appropriate information sources are needed, such as professional
The requirement to build more sustainably with concrete will not make publications, symposia, and handbooks, online tools and possibly
understanding of the material less complicated. All over the world, MOOCs that are tailored to the target groups.
engineers and appliers are not prepared for this change, but it is im- • Ultimately, government agencies and funding bodies need to play a
perative to develop new skills and to operate in more interdisciplinary major role, since the requirement to develop flagship projects and
ways. the networks between the key players can only be facilitated by
As clearly stated by Cachim [70], “learning and teaching strategies these institutions. Therefore, they can stimulate and accelerate in-
are always controversial”, and depending upon individual and institu- novation. Thus, it is important to raise awareness of the technolo-
tional strategies and philosophies. Hence, there is no only one right way gical, financial and environmental benefits, including all the po-
how teaching and education in more sustainable construction with tentials for local markets and their impact on the social structure.
cement and concrete can be successful. The authors' ambition is not to The focus has to be put on well-prepared facts as well as commu-
recommend how to enhance education on all levels more efficiently, nication tools. In this context, the best educational tools might be
but to trigger thoughts about weak areas, which need improvement to online media, social media, online information services and web
facilitate mastering the challenges for the future generations of concrete pages, as well as possibly MOOCs.
engineers, technicians and labourers. These challenges will definitively
be related much more to materials properties than in the past, but the Although there is global consensus of the need to re-think cement
best ways how to address them appropriately and successfully have to and concrete technologies, and although scientifically approved con-
be found by individuals and educational institutions. cepts do exist, progress is often achieved only slowly. In regions like
The major educational requirements are summarised in Fig. 7: Europe, North America, or some parts of Asia that have been influential
for a long time in concrete history, it can be observed that new ideas
• Education of structural engineers, planners and architects is highly only slowly permeate into the real market. This is due to the fact that
important, since they set the framework for use of concrete. Without standard technologies are sound and sufficiently cost-efficient, so that
their willingness to adopt new materials technologies, im- today there is not urgent pressure to work on more future oriented
plementation will never be possible on a large scale. This education concepts. However, without education about the urgent global chal-
must be focused on environmentally friendly technologies, their lenges and future technologies, the lack of materials innovation will fall
economic use, and synergies between cost savings and environ- back on the industries.
mental friendliness. In order to cope with the higher complexity of On the other hand, developing regions such as Africa, India or South
new cementitious materials, focus must be put on capacity building America exhibit a different framework, which can become very in-
in fundamental sciences. Interdisciplinary cooperation is of utmost novation driven, since there is less bias against new ideas, more urgent
importance, which can be facilitated by a more interdisciplinary need for construction, and an increasing demand for construction ma-
focus of the curricula, supplemented by IT-based learning tools, terials. However, the relevant knowledge background has to be pro-
summer schools, and the like. vided for sound applications in order for developing regions to poten-
• Education of operators is also highly relevant, since inappropriate tially become global innovation drivers.
application of technologies compromises their sustainability benefit. Researchers, technicians, appliers and policy-making bodies have to
The greater complexity of materials demands that more priority be recognise the important role that responsible use of global resources

Fig. 7. Overview of the roles and relevance of stakeholders

in concrete education.

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