Flood resilience and fire-resistance are just two of the in-built benefits of concrete.
Flood Resilience
Concrete is inherently water resilient and entirely suitable for a building designed to be either waterproof, as required for water barriers, or water resilient, in the cases of our homes.
Dwellings constructed with concrete and masonry can easily be designed to be flood resilient. Despite the severe damage caused to property by flooding, the vast majority of buildings built using concrete will not suffer structural damage due to warping, rotting or rusting in a flood. In many cases, people will suffer inconvenience and damage to carpets, curtains and furniture, but the concrete structure will dry out when the flooding has receded. Concrete does not absorb significant amounts of water and finishes that are water damaged can be stripped off and replaced, minimising the drying time and cleaning required before reoccupation.
Fire Resistance
Fire resistance comes as standard with concrete. It does not require special coatings or sealers. Concrete does not burn and concrete elements retain their strength at high temperatures, so concrete structures can withstand the effects of a fire without requiring any other form of active or passive protection.
Built to Last
The durability of concrete enables it to resist weathering action, chemical attack and abrasion while maintaining its desired properties. Concrete is inert, non-combustible, non-biodegradable and does not rust, warp, rot or melt and retains its structural stability at high temperatures. In addition concrete provides better protection againat pests than lightweight forms of construction. Also concrete and masonry party walls result in safer, more secure building helping to prevent unwelcome intruders.
Concrete buildings are easily designed to be flood resilient.
Concrete is designated by the EU as a Class A1 building material (non-combustible).
Concrete does not rust, warp, melt, rot or burn and resists weathering and chemical attack.
‘Fabric First with Concrete’ – The first step to maximise the building’s performance!