National Centre for Infrastructure Materials (Leeds)

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It is estimated that the value of the world's built environment is $218 trillion with the equivalent figure for the UK being $3.1 trillion. Global spend on new economic infrastructure by 2025 is expected to be about £5.3 trillion with £483 billion planned in the UK with most of the infrastructure projects being unique and expected to last not one generation, but for many. Most of the current infrastructure has been built over the last 300 years and 80% of that will exist in 2050, the time by which the UK must meet its 80% emissions reductions, as enshrined in the 2008 Climate Change Act. Some 50% of the UK's annual construction budget is spent on infrastructure maintenance and repair, much of which is due to degradation of materials. Degradation processes are slow; existing infrastructure is naturally in gradual decline; society cannot wait 50 years to see if a new material performs suitably; hence the need for a national centre for infrastructure materials which investigates the degradation of infrastructure materials. This will involve advanced laboratory facilities for accelerated material specimen degradation; large scale environmental chambers for accelerated ageing of structural elements; field site for long-term controlled exposure studies of material and structural specimens; and remote inspection technologies for real world structures to observe material degradation in situ; aimed at improving whole-life infrastructure material performance and developing innovative materials to reduce material use, monetary and energy (carbon) costs and maintenance requirements.