ABSTRACT
Quality professionals have been leading on the quality assurance of construction materials since the 1980s, with the role of the Clerks of Works taking the lead in quality control of construction materials, throughout the centuries. The science of advanced materials is progressing rapidly, with new improved attributes for mechanical, physical, chemical and manufacturing properties. Traditionally, quality control for construction materials on site included visual inspections and reviewing material tests. There are many innovative architectural materials that can be used in design to capture certain effects. Advanced materials face challenges on cost grounds but that is because there is relatively little financial cost to the environmental degradation for open casting quarrying to take stone out of the ground or limestone and clay for cement production. New advanced materials such as Graphene concrete, new grades of steel, nanotechnology, aerogels and carbon nanotubes will appear in specifications, and quality professionals need to understand how such specifications are being met.
