ABSTRACT
To meet the climate objectives, there is a clear need to deal differently with our building patrimony. In the future, building structures must be re-used as much as possible, if necessary, in combination with changes in their intended function. In this contribution, an overview is given of mostly known but often not yet fully exploited techniques that can be applied for reliability assessment of existing structures. Obviously, the starting point is the load history of the building, although this is not a conclusive verification. An often-underestimated aspect here is the modelling of the load arrangements. Despite that this is the starting point of further (advanced) analyses, disproportionally little research attention has been given to this to date. Furthermore, advanced structural analysis methods as well as testing and monitoring of structures are also discussed, followed by some sub-aspects. To conclude, three practical examples are given, underlining the importance of this work.
