Establishment of GLOBE Consensus.

GLOBE - Global Consensus on Sustainability in the Built Environment

Nothing less than a transformative and united worldwide effort from all stakeholders of the construction sector is required for human society to be successful in sustainable development, and in the mitigation of the disastrous consequences of climate change at global and local scales”. This is the central message of the GLOBE Consensus, which has been recently stipulated by an international group of experts, mandated by seven of the leading professional associations in the domain of construction engineering. GLOBE stands for Global Consensus on Sustainability in the Built Environment and it highlights the global challenges associated with the built environment as a main contributor to climate change.

Press Release: 21 September 2020 Download   Objective and main message of GLOBE

Examples of cooperation of the Liaison Committee Member Associations:

1. Joint Committee for Structural Safety JCSS, founded in 1971 for more information click here

2. JCSS Publication

Probabilistic Assessment of Existing Structures, a Publication from the Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS)

The aim of the activities of the Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS) is to promote matters within the field of structural reliability at an inter-association level. Reliability-based assessment of existing structures has been identified as a topic of major importance. In fact the assessment of existing structures is getting more and more important due to social and economic reasons, while most codes deal explicitly with design situations of new structures.

The assessment of an existing structure may however differ from the design of a new one. Due to deterioration and damage, it is general practice to inspect existing structures, and if necessary, to repair and/or strengthen them. Although, various uncertainties related to loads and resistance parameters must be assessed, resulting in safe, codified design provisions, actual observations update the prior assessment. Assessing existing structures varies completely from that during design. Special attention is paid to specific parts of the existing structure and to limited parts with a real risk of damage, given the behaviour of the structure. Interpretation and the analysis of the additional information may not be a simple matter.

Specific procedures and tools are required in order to judge the safety of existing structures. Such procedures and tools have been reviewed within this project of the JCSS and have been thoroughly discussed in various meetings during the last six years. A review resulted in the following goals:

a) standardised methods and terminology
b) operational for consulting engineers
c) applicable for various materials and various structural types
d) guide the pre-codification state, i.e. to build the basis of future codes, standards or code type of recommendations.

The results obtained within this project are documented in the present report. Although the nature of the report is educational, it contains practical and operational recommendations, and rules for the assessment of existing structures, illustrated with examples and real case studies.

3. International Conference in Innsbruck, in September 1997 'Composite Construction - Conventional and Innovative'

Structural engineering has experienced increasing specialisation. Structural forms and performance have often largely been dictated by the adopted material, rather than by the functional requirements of the structure. Functional considerations, however, will most often lead to the choice of different materials for different parts of a structure, and to combinations of materials that exploit their individual qualities to produce advantages that are greater than the sum of the parts. This is the essence of Composite Construction.

The 1997 Innsbruck Conference was a joint effort of the main international associations of civil engineering (CEB, CIB, ECCS, FIP, IABSE, RILEM, ASCCS).

This Conference Report provides an excellent overview of the many aspects of composite construction, ranging from combinations of traditional building materials to more unconventional structural materials such as fibre-reinforced plastics. The following themes are discussed:

Connections between Materials / Safety and Serviceability / Analysis and Dimensioning / Structural Design / Fire Resistance / Joints between Structural Members / Fabrication and Erection / Codes and Standards / Earthquake Resistance / Diagnosis, Maintenance, Retrofitting, Repair / Advanced Composites / Behaviour Modelling

4. International Conference in Malta, on March 21-23, 2001 'Safety Risk and Reliability - Trends in Engineering'

The Conference in Malta, from March 21 to 23, 2001, was a joint event of the international associations of civil engineering, CIB, ECCS, fib, IABSE and RILEM; not a specialist conference, but a meeting place for 450 scientists and designers, from 50 countries, addressing the various aspects of safety, lifetime performance, and environmental aspects within design and operation of buildings and civil engineering structures:

Structural Risk Assessment / Risk Engineering / Lessons from Failures / Structural Codes / Risk Acceptance Criteria/ Risk Control / Assessment of Existing Structures / Decision Support / Risk Communication /Project, Construction and Operation Risks / Reliability in Geotechnical Engineering/ Benchmark Studies.

The 390 abstracts in response to the "Call for papers", resulted in 171 papers, the written proceedings containing 145 papers, printed in full (6 pages each), and about 26 long abstracts (2 pages each). The CD features all papers in full. The scope of the papers is wide. On the one hand, classical structural reliability aspects are covered, including codification of structural analysis, assessment of existing structures and geotechnical analysis. On the other, there are many papers dealing with items like risk analysis, acceptance criteria, decision support systems and risk communication. The relationship between structure-related risks and ethical, legal and insurance considerations is also presented. The proceedings of this conference are a valuable contribution to the process of making better and more rational risk-related decisions in civil engineering and building construction.