ACI Global Home Middle East Region Portal Western Europe Region Portal
Email Address is required Invalid Email Address
In today’s market, it is imperative to be knowledgeable and have an edge over the competition. ACI members have it…they are engaged, informed, and stay up to date by taking advantage of benefits that ACI membership provides them.
Read more about membership
Learn More
Become an ACI Member
Topics In Concrete
Home > News and Events > News > News Detail
1/31/2025
Share this article on Social Media
This past December, I was invited to give a presentation about ACI at an international conference in Cairo, Egypt, partly titled “Future Vision & Challenges for Urban Development,” hosted by the Housing and Building National Research Center of the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities. The theme of the conference was “green, smart, sustainable building between present & future.” The beginning of my presentation made clear that urban development involves much more than just buildings. Our flagship code, ACI CODE-318 (along with ACI CODE-562; ACI-PCI CODE-319 and ACI-PTI CODE-320, which are currently in development; and many other codes) does address buildings, including housing in a broad range of building types and uses. However, ACI documents also importantly address all sorts of infrastructure that create, enhance, and sustain the urban fabric, including: Requirements and guidance for concrete bridges, provided by ACI Committees 341, 342, and 345, and Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 343; Guidance for concrete guideway structures, provided in ACI PRC-343.1-12(22); Guidance for concrete pavements and paving, provided in documents by ACI Committees 325 and 330; Requirements and guidance for environmental engineering concrete structures used in water and wastewater systems, provided in several documents from ACI Committee 350; Guidance for tanks, provided by ACI Committees 371 and 372; Guidance for concrete chimneys, provided by ACI Committee 307; Guidance for concrete bins and silos, provided by ACI Committee 313; Guidance for concrete offshore and marine structures, provided by ACI Committee 357; and Requirements for concrete pools and watershapes, provided by ACI Committee 322. In addition, several standalone ACI documents address sustainability and resilience, the theme of the conference in Egypt. These include: ACI CODE-323-24, Low-Carbon Concrete—Code Requirements and Commentary; forthcoming ACI CODE-321, Concrete Durability—Code Requirements and Commentary; and ACI Committee 440 documents. Furthermore, ACI Centers of Excellence promote sustainability and resilience through various initiatives. NEx: An ACI Center of Excellence for Nonmetallic Building Materials, established to expand and accelerate the use of nonmetallics in the built environment, has published several documents, including MNL-6(23): Recommended Practice Guidelines for FRP Bars in Pre-Engineered Projects and MNL-7(23): GFRP-Reinforced Concrete Design Handbook (in collaboration with ACI), as well as NEx SG-01(24): Design and Selection Guidelines for FRP Pultruded Structures, NEx SG23.02(24): Guideline: Bendable Concrete (Engineered Cementitious Composites), and NEx RD23.06 (24): State of the Art: Fire Performance of Concrete with FRP Reinforcement. NEx also co-sponsored the “Designing Concrete Structures Reinforced with GFRP Bars Using the ACI CODE-440.11-22” Certificate Program and funded the development of the GFRP Reinforcing Bar Inspector Certification Program. NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete was established to lead the global concrete industry in advancing reduced-carbon concrete technologies, empowering all stakeholders to build a sustainable future. Through leadership with integrity and global collaboration, NEU will accelerate the adoption and use of reduced-carbon concrete technologies. NEU’s initiatives include forging and leveraging strategic partnerships and alliances across the construction value chain to drive the widespread adoption of carbon-reduction technologies and accelerate progress toward a sustainable future. By delivering trusted, proven processes for validating/verifying carbon-reduction claims, NEU is helping the industry meet environmental goals with confidence and credibility. While PRO: An ACI Center of Excellence for Advancing Productivity is not focused on materials and their sustainable properties, PRO’s initiatives and mission are aimed at improving the productivity of design and construction. PRO defines productivity as optimizing field labor and construction speed, as well as reducing requests for information (RFIs), design changes, and change orders. These improvements will provide environmental gains through efficiency, which will advance the sustainability and resilience of the concrete industry by increasing project value for owners. In summary, ACI—through the work of its committees and its documents and certification programs—provides both fundamental and state-of-the-art guidance for concrete infrastructure essential to sustainable and resilient urban development. And ultimately and importantly, ACI contributes to the quality of life, which was a strong focus of the conference in Cairo. Michael J. Paul All photos were submissions to the ACI Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards
This past December, I was invited to give a presentation about ACI at an international conference in Cairo, Egypt, partly titled “Future Vision & Challenges for Urban Development,” hosted by the Housing and Building National Research Center of the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities. The theme of the conference was “green, smart, sustainable building between present & future.”
The beginning of my presentation made clear that urban development involves much more than just buildings. Our flagship code, ACI CODE-318 (along with ACI CODE-562; ACI-PCI CODE-319 and ACI-PTI CODE-320, which are currently in development; and many other codes) does address buildings, including housing in a broad range of building types and uses.
However, ACI documents also importantly address all sorts of infrastructure that create, enhance, and sustain the urban fabric, including:
In addition, several standalone ACI documents address sustainability and resilience, the theme of the conference in Egypt. These include: ACI CODE-323-24, Low-Carbon Concrete—Code Requirements and Commentary; forthcoming ACI CODE-321, Concrete Durability—Code Requirements and Commentary; and ACI Committee 440 documents.
Furthermore, ACI Centers of Excellence promote sustainability and resilience through various initiatives. NEx: An ACI Center of Excellence for Nonmetallic Building Materials, established to expand and accelerate the use of nonmetallics in the built environment, has published several documents, including MNL-6(23): Recommended Practice Guidelines for FRP Bars in Pre-Engineered Projects and MNL-7(23): GFRP-Reinforced Concrete Design Handbook (in collaboration with ACI), as well as NEx SG-01(24): Design and Selection Guidelines for FRP Pultruded Structures, NEx SG23.02(24): Guideline: Bendable Concrete (Engineered Cementitious Composites), and NEx RD23.06 (24): State of the Art: Fire Performance of Concrete with FRP Reinforcement. NEx also co-sponsored the “Designing Concrete Structures Reinforced with GFRP Bars Using the ACI CODE-440.11-22” Certificate Program and funded the development of the GFRP Reinforcing Bar Inspector Certification Program.
NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete was established to lead the global concrete industry in advancing reduced-carbon concrete technologies, empowering all stakeholders to build a sustainable future. Through leadership with integrity and global collaboration, NEU will accelerate the adoption and use of reduced-carbon concrete technologies. NEU’s initiatives include forging and leveraging strategic partnerships and alliances across the construction value chain to drive the widespread adoption of carbon-reduction technologies and accelerate progress toward a sustainable future. By delivering trusted, proven processes for validating/verifying carbon-reduction claims, NEU is helping the industry meet environmental goals with confidence and credibility.
While PRO: An ACI Center of Excellence for Advancing Productivity is not focused on materials and their sustainable properties, PRO’s initiatives and mission are aimed at improving the productivity of design and construction. PRO defines productivity as optimizing field labor and construction speed, as well as reducing requests for information (RFIs), design changes, and change orders. These improvements will provide environmental gains through efficiency, which will advance the sustainability and resilience of the concrete industry by increasing project value for owners.
In summary, ACI—through the work of its committees and its documents and certification programs—provides both fundamental and state-of-the-art guidance for concrete infrastructure essential to sustainable and resilient urban development. And ultimately and importantly, ACI contributes to the quality of life, which was a strong focus of the conference in Cairo.
Michael J. Paul
ACI University is a global, online learning resource, providing on-demand access to a wide range of topics on concrete materials, design, and construction
LEARN MORE »
These Awards will celebrate innovation and inspire excellence throughout the global concrete design and construction community.
The American Concrete Institute's newest Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-19) and Commentary is now available in print and digital formats. Learn more about the 2019 edition, plus supplemental resources from ACI.
Visit the ACI 318 Portal Now »