Papers published in Construction Materials are eligible for awards from the Institution of Civil Engineers. Papers from any of the ICE journals can be nominated for several awards. In addition, each journal has awards dedicated to their specific subject area.
On Monday 8 October 2018, ICE president Professor Lord Robert Mair presented an award to the following paper published in Construction Materials in 2017.
The editorial panel nominated their best papers and an awards committee chaired by Nigel Wright allocated the awards.
Howard Medal (best paper in the journal)
The best paper was awarded to Rich et al. (2017).
Abstract
Self-compacting concrete or self-consolidating concrete (as it is known in North America) (SCC) is used on the basis of its unique properties of flowability, passability and resistance to segregation. It requires no external energy to achieve full compaction, so is advantageous on site, but there is evidence that its higher cost is a significant barrier to greater adoption. The research entailed work measurement of 14 UK single-family home residential projects (eliciting data on construction time and labour productivity) and cost modelling of three slab scenarios (exploring the relationship between material and labour costs). The study found SCC was placed up to 73% faster than conventional concrete and, when labour and material costs are included, the supplier is able to price SCC to closely match conventional concrete, hence making SCC more viable for the contractor. This relationship between as-built costs for SCC and conventional concrete is clarified by developing Pmax, providing a new mechanism for understanding project profitability and viability of SCC.
