Pictured: Staff of the C&CI pose – for the last time – at its final location: Waterfall Park in Midrand.

After 75 years of serving the construction industry in South Africa, the Cement & Concrete Institute (C&CI) closed down at the end of April this year following the resignation of the Institute’s main funding members: the South African cement producers.

The institute was a much revered organisation that has left an indelible mark on the South African engineering, construction and building sectors.

History

In 1938, the South African cement industry decided to establish a body to promote the use of portland cement and concrete, in line with overseas moves where the Portland Cement Association had been started in 1916 in the USA and the Cement and Concrete Association in 1935 in the UK. Over the next 75 years, the new association was to operate under four names: the Concrete Association of South Africa, The Concrete Association, The Portland Cement Institute (in 1958), and finally, The Cement and Concrete Institute (1996). The Institute had five directors: A.E. Wynn – 1938 to 1951, F.S. Fulton – 1951 to 1970, D. E. Davis – 1970 to 1984, S.W. Norton – 1984 to 1990, G. R. H. Grieve – 1990 to 2008, and B. D. Perrie – 2008 until the closure in 2013. During its earliest years, the C&CI operated from rented offices in downtown Johannesburg, but moved to its own premises in Richmond during 1958 and then to the sprawling grounds of Portland Park in Halfway House in 1981. The C&CI moved to its final accommodation in Waterfall Park, Midrand, in 2006. Among the early objectives in the days of World War ll were education and training, advice and information and trouble-shooting. These activities changed over the years as the South African economy developed, new applications of cement and concrete were introduced, and the role of the Institute altered. However, promoting the competent use of cement in concrete and stimulating the sale of cement were always part of the Institute’s activities. As blended cements were increasingly produced by the manufacturers, PCI became more involved with testing their use in concrete and giving advice to such users.

Focus areas

From its earliest years, the Institute endeavoured to promote concrete roads but felt that success depended on an especially high degree of expertise.  Louis Marais was accordingly appointed in 1964 to promote concrete for road applications. He played an important role in ensuring that Johannesburg’s Western Bypass was constructed in concrete.  In 1984, Bryan Perrie was appointed to the roads and paving team and subsequently led it after Marais retired. The team’s active engagement with local engineers and government agencies led to concrete becoming more favoured for major paving contracts, concrete overlays and inlays, and low-volume roads. The major role concrete is playing in SANRAL’s current Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) is the latest testimony to the legacy C&CI has left behind in this respect. The other focus areas are: architecture, human settlements and structural concrete. In all these areas the team leaders have made substantial contributions to furthering the role of concrete for a wide range of applications.

Information centre

The PCI Library was established in 1957. It has, over the years, developed into what finally became the C&CI Information Centre, equipped with qualified information specialists and state-of-the-art computerised systems. One of the largest and most respected sources of information on concrete in the southern hemisphere; the Information Centre’s portal went live on the C&CI website four years ago. It became an icon for the engineering profession and many of Southern Africa’s most respected engineers, academics and consultants will readily admit that the C&CI ‘library’ greatly assisted them in their studies and successful careers.

Publications

In 1951, A.E. Wynn, then the director, proposed the writing of an authoritative South African cement and concrete handbook. Written almost entirely by Sandy Fulton, Concrete Technology (1957) was one of the earliest global attempts at a comprehensive book on the subject. ’Fulton‘, as the book became known, was extremely well received and glowing tributes poured in. After Fulton’s death in 1979, all subsequent editions were named Fulton’s Concrete Technology as a tribute to this doyen of concrete technology in South Africa. In 2009, the ninth edition was published with input from some of the leading authorities on concrete in the Republic. To date this book remains a prescribed textbook for students in civil and structural engineering and building science. In the years following 1938, dozens of new publications in the form of leaflets, booklets and books on concrete usage were produced. At the time of its closure, C&CI had 55 publications available for distribution (in hard copy or online), ranging from highly technical books to leaflets for the DIY enthusiast.

Education and training

As part of its information dissemination quest, training courses for engineers and technicians were introduced and presented from 1975. This led to the establishment of the Institute’s School of Concrete Technology which, from 1980, occupied its own fully-equipped premises at Halfway House. In 1990, the first Advanced Concrete Technology (ACT) course outside the UK was conducted at the School. The course, offered by the Institute of Concrete Technology (ICT), remains the most comprehensive and authoritative in the world. The School also initiated practical undergraduate programmes for various South African universities and technikons.

Marketing

From 1996 the C&CI Board charted a new direction for the Institute – to become a technical marketing organisation to promote concrete and protect the market against competitive construction materials. Top priorities for marketing were roads, architectural concrete, human settlements and structural concrete.

The institute celebrated its 60^th anniversary in September 1998, the year the first issue of the C&CI’s new promotional journal, Concrete Trends was published.

It became apparent that the C&CI would benefit from having a more inclusive membership and obtaining greater input from the broader concrete industry. A change in the constitution enabled new categories of membership to be offered and at the time of its closure the institute had four producer members, 12 associate members and eight built environment professional members.

For the institute, it has been 75 years of success and the justifiable earning of respect from the entire construction industry. South Africa will be the poorer without the Cement and Concrete Institute.