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Tag Archives: reinforced concrete
War Bunkers: Part of The Atlantic Wall
I recently spent a lovely two weeks in South West France, in Gironde. Its a lovely part of France with long sandy beaches and great weather. A short walk along the beach from where we were staying was an old … Continue reading
Posted in Historic Buildings
Tagged Atlantic wall, France, german bunkers, H667 bunkers, reinforced concrete, Second World War
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U-Boat base in Saint Nazaire: Too big to knock
I discussed buildings and roads as tourist attractions before, here. But traveling through France some years ago, I came across the ugly U-boat base in Saint Nazaire, which is an unlikely tourist attraction but one I was fascinated by. I was shocked by the … Continue reading
Posted in Historic Buildings
Tagged reinforced concrete, Saint Nazaire, Second World War, Submarine, tourist attraction, U-Boat bunker
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The 29th Irish Concrete Society Awards
I had the pleasure of attending the annual Irish Concrete Society Awards last Saturday night, in the Conrad Hotel, Dublin. It was a very enjoyable night spent catching up with friends and meeting new people. The overall award and best building award went to the new Aviva Stadium, Dublin. This project beat off stiff competition from 23 other projects for the Overall award. Continue reading
Concrete Ships
Concrete ships sound like an April fools joke, but in fact there were many examples built in the last hundred and fifty years. Most were built during times of war when steel and timber supplies were scarce. The disadvantages of concrete boats are many; they are heavier, more costly to construct and as the walls are thicker their carrying capacity is much less. The advantages are that much less steel is required. The fact that they are heavy, robust and difficult to dispose of means that although they are no longer sailing the seas a lot of the ships built still survive as breakwaters. Continue reading
Posted in Various
Tagged concrete boats, Concrete ships, England, ireland, reinforced concrete, River Moy, SS Creteboom, SS Cretehauser, Sunderland
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Sallins Sugar Factory: Ireland’s first reinforced concrete building….or is it?
Sallins Sugar Factory was built at the beginning of the last century and according to some sources is Ireland first reinforced concrete building. It is located 1km to the East of Sallins village, which is located just North of Naas town, in County Kildare. The Helpful Engineer decided to pay this historic building a visit to investigate how the reinforced concrete is resisting the passing of time and then discovered that all was not as it seemed. Continue reading
Posted in Historic Buildings
Tagged canal, County Kildare, Grand canal, historic building, ireland, reinforced concrete, Sallins, sugar factory
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