News Detail

Exit FIP, Exit CEB — Enter fib!

7/1/1998

Just in time for the passing of the Twentieth Century and the arrival of the Twenty-first (and a new millennium, also), a new organization in the concrete arena has been launched. Perhaps because this new arrival will be headquartered in Europe, as were the two consolidating groups, not much publicity has been given to the event in the United States although its importance will be worldwide.

The merger is that of Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte (FIP) with the Comité Euro-International du Béton (CEB), finalized at FIP’s XIII World Congress and Exposition, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in late May. The new organization will be known as Fédération Internationale du Béton, the acronym for which thus far is fib – small letters, in italic. Without a doubt, much more will be heard about fib in the last months of the old century and the first years of the Twenty-first. This merger could very well be the most important happening in the concrete industry for years to come.

The new organization will be based at the internationally-known Swiss Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, and its general mission "to develop the study of scientific and practical matters capable of advancing the technical, economic, aesthetic, and environmental performance of concrete construction at an international level" has been established.

FIP, founded in 1952 and headquartered in London, England, has long been recognized as the world’s leading advocate and authority on prestressed concrete. It has member groups in over 36 nations and generally operates through four basic permanent commissions on design, construction, prefabrication, and prestressing. The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, based in Chicago, Ill., serves as the U.S. representative of FIP.

CEB, also headquartered in Lausanne, was founded in 1953 and was originally an association of French contracting firms. Now a worldwide organization but with European concentration, it is perhaps best known for "coordination and synthesis of research for all problems related to technology and innovation in structural concrete," and the drafting of codes and other concrete-related technical documents.

Both organizations have had long-standing close relationships with ACI. The outgoing FIP president was Michel Virlogeux, a member of ACI for many years and a French engineer who achieved international acclaim a few years ago with his design of the spectacular Normandie Bridge, a cable-stay span in northern France. Virlogeux in 1992 received the Institute’s Construction Practice Award for a technical paper on external prestressing. Ben C. Gerwick is a past president of FIP, and Norman L. Scott chaired one of its major committees not many years ago; both are Honorary Members of ACI and Scott is also a past president of the Institute. There have been many others within ACI who have also been closely involved in the administrative and technical activities of FIP.

With regard to CEB, the outgoing president is Roy E. Rowe, an Honorary Member of ACI and the Raymond E. Davis Lecturer at the 1980 fall convention in Puerto Rico when he was then director general of the Cement and Concrete Association of England. Past ACI presidents James G. MacGregor, George C. Hoff, and Ignacio Martín, and current Vice President James O. Jirsa are among the many ACI members who have participated in CEB administrative and technical activities in recent years. ACI has had a liaison arrangement with this organization and W. Gene Corley, of Construction Technology Labs, has been the official Institute representative at CEB functions.

Within the ranks of ACI, we look forward to hearing more about fib and its aspirations for the global concrete community.

On behalf of all of those in the Institute, I have sent best wishes to the new officers of fib. It is our sincere hope that our two organizations will collaborate closely in the future with the objectives of improving the quality of concrete and extending the use of this great material. It is a wish that both fib and ACI hold in common.

Let’s all welcome fib to the concrete community!

James R. Libby
President
American Concrete Institute

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