The first International Conference on Construction Materials and Structures (ICCMATS2014) was held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 24–26 November 2014. The event was locally considered to be a major onset for promotion and stimulation of research and engineering applications in the fields of materials and their structural implications on physical infrastructure. The core value of the conference was embedded on science and engineering as a necessary vehicle for addressing infrastructure needs and related modern socio-economic concerns, of the global community. The event also served to strengthen existing relationships and to establish new directions between South Africa as a country and research leader in the African continent, and other countries within and outside the continent including Europe, China, North America, to mention but a few.

The Proceedings of this conference contain about two hundred peer-reviewed papers from fifty-one countries, making this a truly international event. They include ten keynote speeches by some of the leading academics, researchers and international experts from Canada, USA, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uganda, New Zealand, South Africa, Qatar, and Japan.

The geographical location and timing of this event demanded special consideration on issues of developing countries where the severe lack of a critical mass of academics, research scientists and engineers undermines efforts to attain sustainable development. In developing countries, the fast population growth promotes rapid urbanization; resulting in high poverty and mortality, aggravation of poor housing conditions, disproportionately high energy demands and environmental degradation due to human activity, among other social ills. Besides these negative issues, most of these countries are on a significant economic growth trajectory, but remain in dire need for impactful and sustainable physical infrastructure. In an attempt to confront these concerns, the International Conference on Construction Materials and Structures was organized to bring together international experts from several countries to discuss scientific research and share advances in technology. Against this backdrop, ICCMATS 2014 was used as a platform for sharing of cutting-edge theories, techniques and scientific advances by some of the foremost scientists and researchers worldwide. The event provided insights for addressing issues of modern local infrastructure, and inspired future advancements, innovations and emerging researchers.

Consistent with the technical focus of the conference, high quality papers presented in these Proceedings covered a range of fields, categorized into nine (9) sub-topics and five (5) main themes viz. materials and characterization, durability of construction materials, structural implications and service life, sustainability and the environment, building science and construction. All the papers that were submitted for ICCMATS 2014 were fully peer-reviewed, a task undertaken by the International Scientific Committee (ISC). The acceptance of the papers for publishing in these Proceedings was based on the recommendations provided in the reviewer reports. Sincere gratitude is due to the individual members of the ISC and all reviewers for their important contribution of ensuring the high quality of these Proceedings.

The following organizations are gratefully acknowledged for their significant financial and technical support to the conference: The National Research Foundation of South Africa, Council of Geoscience (South Africa), Concrete Society of Southern Africa Johannesburg Convention Bureau, The American Concrete Institute and RILEM.

On behalf of the Organising Committee, the Editors of the Proceedings wish to extend special thanks to all authors for the technical contribution of their high quality research, expertise and knowledge through these Proceedings. In addition, the dilemmas of resource planning for participation in the conference, placed high demands on the authors; for which collective applause is in order for all authors who participated in the event.

Finally, thanks are due to all members of the Conference Organizing Committee, the Conference Secretarial team, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), academic and technical staff of the UJ Department of Civil Engineering Science, partners from Harbin Institute of Technology, research students and all those who contributed to the running and success of the event. It was a rewarding programme to all those involved, not excluding the wider scientific community. In that regard, this event's continuity into the future is anticipated.

Editors:

Stephen O. Ekolu

Morgan Dundu

Xiaojian Gao