ABSTRACT
The introduction of ENV 197(1) could be regarded as heralding a new era in cement specification whose implications could be the most far reaching there have ever been in a single standard. In the short-term, many in the UK will regard the Standard as a fad and that the status quo will be preserved and the portland cement will be essentially no different to what has always been available. The likelihood, however, is that the real situation will be some where between these two views. If required portland cement, which would have in the past been termed OPC, will be available and likewise engineers will be able to select materials which can be used for blending which can provide a whole range of performance in concrete. Clearly, this has the potential to cause some difficultly and has shifted emphasis, at least in the short-term, for engineers to specify the correct blend of materials for the required performance. In the long-term, a shift toward performance based specifications for concrete will remove some of these problems, with the responsibility for the choice of materials shifting back to the producer.
