• History

    History

  • History

    History

The fib was formed in 1998 by the merger of the Euro-International Committee for Concrete (the CEB) and the International Federation for Pre-stressing (the FIP).  These predecessor organizations existed independently since 1953 and 1952, respectively. 

 

  • Brief history of the fib's parent associations, CEB and FIP from 1952 to 1998
     
    YearsHistory
    1998 On the 24th May 1998 the CEB Administrative Council, following the resolution taken by the last General Assembly in 1997, dissolved the CEB in favour of the fib with an effective date of 28th May 1998. In a parallel move the same day, the FIP Council, following the resolution taken by the last General Assembly in 1996, dissolved the FIP in favour of the fib with an effective date of 28th May 1998 (the last day of the XIII FIP Congress Amsterdam).
    1997 The 31st CEB General Assembly in Stockholm in June 1997, following a suggestion made by a common CEB-FIP Implementation Group, approved the merger with FIP to create fib.
    1996 The FIP General Assembly met in London in September 1996 during the FIP Symposium, and following a suggestion made by a common CEB-FIP Implementation Group, approved the merger with the CEB to create the fib.
    1991 The Final Draft of the 1990 CEB-FIP Model Code was presented to and endorsed by CEB's 28th Plenary Session in Vienna. Restructuring of CEB's Commissions and Task Groups commenced.
    1985 The Model Code for Seismic Design of Concrete Structures was published by CEB. A decision was made to compile a 'Model Code 1990'. The secretariat of FIP moved from C&CA to The Institution of Structural Engineers, with Dr. Ralph Andrew succeeding Barry W. Shacklock as Seretary General.
    1983 On invitation of the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), CEB's Lausanne office was opened, which became in 1985 the CEB headquarters after closure of the Paris office.
    1980 CEB's legal domicile was transferred to Geneva, Switzerland.
    1978 Barry W. Shacklock, who was at the time Director of Administration Services at C&CA, was appointed Secretary-General and Treasurer of the FIP, succeeding Mr. Arthur W. Hill.
    1978 The first volumes of the 'International System of Unified Standard Codes of Practice for Structures' were published:
    • Volume I: Common unified rules for different types of construction and material
    • Volume II: CEB-FIP Model Code for Concrete Structures
    The latter subsequently became the basic reference document for the development of Eurocode 2 by the Commission of the European Communities, and to a large extent influenced the up-dating of design codes in many countries. In the following years numerous accompanying documents, application manuals, trial calculations, etc. were elaborated.
    1977 The 19th CEB Plenary Session in Granada approved the final draft of what later became the 'CEB-FIP Model Code 1978'.
    1976 CEB's name changed to 'Comité euro-international du béton' (Euro-International Committee for Concrete).
    1974 An initiative by CEB – in a concentrated effort and in conjunction with FIP, ECCS, CIB and RILEM – created an 'International System of Unified Standard Codes of Practice for Structures', in which CEB became responsible for the common unified rules for different types of construction and material and the model code for concrete structures.
    1970 The second edition of what later became the "CEB-FIP International Recommendations” were ratified by the two associations, covering structures in plain, reinforced and prestressed concrete. In the following years elaboration of numerous accompanying manuals.
    1970 The second edition of what later became the "CEB-FIP International Recommendations” were ratified by the two associations, covering structures in plain, reinforced and prestressed concrete. In the following years elaboration of numerous accompanying manuals.
    1968 The importance of the results achieved by CEB was officially recognised by the United Nations in the publishing of the UNESCO 'Code et manuel d'application pour le calcul et l'exécution du béton armé', conceived especially for the developing countries, based on the 1964 CEB International Recommendations and elaborated by a commission of CEB experts.
    1967 FIP-Notes created as a means of dissemination of news among members, continued until 1998.
    1964 The First CEB International Recommendations (covering reinforced concrete structures), was published successively in fifteen languages as 'a tentative draft for a complete set of provisional practical recommendations relating to all aspects of design and construction', and contributed very efficiently to the progress of drafting of national codes in about twenty countries.
    1962 A common initiative by FIP and CEB created a 'Mixed CEB-FIP Committee for Drafting of Recommendations for Prestressed Concrete'.
    1961 On the initiative of CEB the 'Liaison Committee for the International Civil Engineering Associations', was created (comprising still today the CIB, ECCS, fib, IABSE and RILEM), with the aim to define the areas of activity and to harmonize the endeavours. Under the auspices of the Liaison Committee, several joint undertakings with other associations could be initiated, among them the creation of a joint CEB-CIB-RILEM Commission on Statistical Quality Control (see CEB Bulletin 110) and in 1971 of the still existing Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS).
    1959 In CEB the priority of future work was given to ‘the elaboration of easily usable (international) practical rules (recommendations), with possibly limited initial application or selection of a sufficient security, followed by improvement of the rules when research results permit’. By this decision, the objectives of CEB had to be re-defined as:
    • coordinating and synthesizing research for all problems related to technology and innovation in structural concrete;
    • creating and orchestrating the international principles and rules for the conception, calculation, construction and maintenance of concrete structures; and
    • establishing codes, standards or other regulatory documents on a unified international basis progressively, through successive stages. For these purposes the first 'Working Commissions' were created.
    1957 Beginning of CEB's technical publication series 'Bulletins d'Information', continued until No. 243 in 1998.
    1954 Philip Gooding, Director-General of the Cement & Concrete Association was appointed Secretary General of FIP. Subsequently, C&CA in Wexham Springs, UK, hosted and sponsored the secretariat.
    1953 The Comité européen du béton CEB (European Committee for Concrete) was founded, on an initiative of French contractors, by André Balency-Béarn (France), Louis Baes (Belgium), Emile Nennig (Luxembourg), Hubert Rüsch (Germany), Euardo Torroja (Spain) and Georg Wästlund (Sweden). The French National Federation of Building (FNB / SNBATI) in Paris hosted and sponsored the secretariat. Yves Saillard was nominated as Secrétaire Permanent, and later became (1968) Vice-Président Délégué and (1971) Président Délégué.
    1952 The Fédération internationale de la précontrainte FIP (International Federation for Prestressing) was inaugurated at an international meeting held in Cambridge, England.
  • CEB Presidents from 1953 to 1998
     
    PresidencyCEB Presidents
    1987-1998 Roy E. Rowe (United Kingdom)
    1983-1987 Theodossios P. Tassios (Greece)
    1979-1983 Julio Ferry-Borges (Portugal)
    1971-1978 Andrew Short (United Kingdom)
    1968-1971 Hubert Rüsch (Germany)
    1957-1968 Franco Levi (Italy)
    1953-1957 André Balency-Béarn (France)
  • FIP Presidents from 1953 to 1998
     
    PresidencyFIP Presidents
    1996-1998 Michel Virlogeux (France)
    1992-1996 Jan Moksnes (Norway)
    1988-1992 René Walther (Switzerland)
    1984-1988 Hans Wittfoht (Germany)
    1982-1984 John Derrington (United Kingdom)
    1978-1982 Roger Lacroix (France)
    1974-1978 Ben C. Gerwick Jr. (USA)
    1970-1974 Gerrit F. Janssonius (Netherlands)
    1966-1970 Franco Levi (Italy)
    1961-1966 Yves Guyon (France)
    1958-1961 Eduardo Torroja (Spain)
    1953-1958 Eugène Freyssinet (France)
  • CEB Plenary Sessions
     
    Sessions
    Luxembourg (1953),  Fontainebleau (1954),  Madrid (1956),   Rome (1957), Vienna (1959)
    Monaco (1961),  Luxembourg (1962),  Wiesbaden (1963),  Ankara (1964),  London (1965),  Brussels (1966),  Lausanne (1968), Delft-Scheveningen (1969)
    Copenhagen (1971),  Leningrad (1972),  London (1973),  Lisbon (1975),  Athens (1976),  Granada (1977),  Rome (1979)
    Budapest (1980),  Munich (1982),  Prague (1983),  Rotterdam (1985),  Treviso (1987),  Dubrovnik (1988)
    Paris (1990),  Vienna (1991),  Les Diablerets (1993),  Berlin (1995),  Stockholm (1997)
  • FIP Congresses
     
    Congresses
    Amsterdam (1998),  Washington (1994),  Hamburg (1990)
    New Delhi (1986),  Stockholm (1982) 
    London (1978),  New York (1974),  Prague (1970)
    Paris (1966),  Rome and Naples (1962)
    Berlin (1958),  Amsterdam (1955),  London (1953)
  • FIP Symposia
     
    Symposia
    Beijing (1991),  Budapest (1992),  Kyoto (1993),  Brisbane (1995),  London (1996),  Johannesburg (1997)
    Bucharest (1980),  Calgary (1984),  Jerusalem (1988)
    Tbilisi (1972),  Sydney (1976)
    Madrid (1968)
  • FIP Freyssinet Medal
     
    YearsMedalists  
    1998 Jan Moksnes (Norway) Jean Muller (France)  
    1994 Alexander C. Scordelis (USA) Hans Wittfoht (Germany) René Walther (Switzerland)
    1990 Christian Menn (Switzerland) Jörg Schlaich (Germany)  
    1986 Shunji Inomata (Japan) Roger Lacroix (France)  
    1982 Max Birkenmeier (Switzerland) Ben C. Gerwick Jr. (USA)  
    1978 Paul Abeles (USA) Alexei A. Gvozdev (USSR) Franco Levi (Italy)
    1974 Fritz Leonhardt (Germany) T'ung-Yen Lin (USA) Victor V. Mikhailov (USSR)
    1970 Nicolas Esquillan (France) Ulrich Finsterwalder (Germany) Ricardo Morandi (Italy)
     
    FIP Medallists
     
    YearsMedallists 
    1998 Mineo Morimoto (Japan) Armando Rito (Portugal) Joost Walraven (The Netherlands)      
    1997 Charles Liebenberg (South Africa) Robert Park (New Zealand)        
    1996 Tom W. Kirkbride (United Kingdom) Javier Manterola (Spain)        
    1995 W. G. J. Ryan (Australia) Steinar Helland (Norway)        
    1994 Norman C. Scott (USA) Arnold van Acker (Belgium)        
    1993 Shoji Ikeda (Japan) Hans Rudolf Müller (Switzerland) Hiroshi Muguruma (Japan)      
    1992 Lajos Garay (Hungary) Peter Matt (Switzerland) Géza Tassi (Hungary)      
    1991 He Guangqian (China) Henk J. C. Oud (The Netherlands)        
    1990 Helmut Bomhard (Germany) John E. Breen (USA) Michel Placidi (France)      
    1988 Carlo Cestelli Guidi (Italy) Lubor Janda (Czech Republic) Jacob Shimoni (Israel)      
    1986 C. R. Alimchandani (India) Helmut F. Cabjolsky (Argentina) Jacques Mathivat (France) Tippur N. Subba Rao (India) J. H. van Loenen (The Netherlands)  
    1984 Karl G. Bernander (Sweden) A. S. G. Bruggeling (The Netherlands) Kai Holbek (USA) Konstantin V. Mikhailov (USSR)    
    1982 Gerrit F. Janssonius (The Netherlands) Michel Kavyrchine (France) Kyoshi Nakano (Japan) Sven-Erik Svensson (Sweden)    
    1980 Constantin Avram (Romania) Olav Olsen (Norway)        
    1978 Jan Bobrowski (United Kingdom) Carlos F. Casado (Spain) Alexandra B. Druganova (USSR) Jean Muller (France) Hans Wittfoht (Germany) Silvano Zorzi (Italy)
    1976 William P. Brown (Australia) Armand H. Gustaferro (USA)        
    1974 Arthur A. Anderson (USA) Shunji Inomata (Japan) David J. Lee (UK)      
    1970 Dudley H. New (United Kingdom) Pierre Xercavins (France) Branko Zezelj (Yugoslavia)      
     
    CEB Honorary Life Members
     
    YearsMedallists 
    1997 Giorgio Macchi (Italy) Henri Motteu (Belgium)
    1993 Henri Mathieu (France) Manfred Stiller (Germany)
    1988 Yves Saillard (France)  
    1983 Troels Brøndum-Nielsen (Denmark)  
    1980 Alexei A. Gvozdev (USSR)  
    1979 Nicolas Esquillan (France)  
    1977 Fritz Leonhardt (Germany)  
     
    FIP Honorary Life Members
     
    YearsMedallists   
    1998 Rafael Pineiro Abril (Spain)      
    1992 Ralph P. Andrew (United Kingdom)      
    1990 Roy E. Rowe (United Kingdom) Manfred Stiller (Germany)    
    1988 Konstantin V. Mikhailov (USSR)      
    1986 William F. G. Crozier (United Kingdom) Barry W. Shacklock (United Kingdom)    
    1978 Karl Kordina (Germany) Fernand Dumas (France)    
    1974 Sir Alan Harris (United Kingdom) Jiri Klimes (Czechoslovakia)    
    1970 Carlo Cestelli Guidi (Italy) Hans Minetti (Germany) Philip Gooding (United Kingdom) Christian Ostenfeld (Denmark)
     
    FIP Awards for Outstanding Concrete Structures
     
    YearsBuildings   Civil Engineering
    1998 The Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium, Japan The Belfast Waterfront Hall, Northern Ireland   The Normandy bridge near Le Havre, France The Great Belt East Bridge, Denmark
    1994 The breakwater jetty in Sakai, Japan The tennis center of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA The administrative building of the ECC construction group in Chennai, India The Skarnsundet cable stay bridge, Norway The footbridge over the Vranov reservoir, Czech Republic
    1990 La Grande Arche in Paris, France The Gullfaks C oil platform, Norway   The Oosterschelde storm surge barrier, The Netherlands The pedestrian bridge across the Altmahl river at Kelheim, Germany

fib postal address

Ch. du Barrage, Station 18
CH-1015 Lausanne
Switzerland

Contact

p : +41 21 693 27 47
f : +41 21 693 62 45
e : info@fib-international.org
w : www.fib-international.org

Follow fib

Subscribe our newsletter

News

Follow us on
           

Join the fib

Join the fib