Opening Address

I congratulate the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Concrete Society and the Royal Institute of British Architects for choosing this most important subject for discussion. Your surroundings are an example to you: it is fitting that you should be holding the Symposium in this splendid building in Great George Street which has stood the test of time and whose design is as attractive today as it was when it was built nearly 75 years ago.

What are we looking for in durability and design life of buildings? Three hundred and sixty years ago Sir Henry Wotton provided the answer in a quotation which will be familiar to you all. InfThe Elements of Architecture1 he wrote