Infrastructure is central to all our lives. It shapes the way we travel, work and spend leisure time. It is the framework of systems that allows the economy to function. Infrastructure has a major influence on whether resources can be preserved to use again or whether they are lost forever. For the most part, it has been designed for, and has perpetuated, the linear economy, the system of ‘take, make, use, throw’.

     Strategic planning of new infrastructure is needed to ensure the development of an economy which minimizes resource use and waste, by lowering demand for new goods, through reuse, repurposing and the remanufacture of products. 

 

     Concrete and steel are considered to be the prime two construction materials in most countries around the world. These materials when properly used and protected against physical and chemical deterioration, become durable enough to last over the design lifetime of the infrastructure and serve for the function that they were designed for. However, lack of protection from ingress of chemical agents endangers their integrity and consequently reduces the life cycle of the structure.