Sustainable Maintenance of Concrete Structures

Introducing STEM Spotlight Luxembourg! This new online lecture series of the Ingénieurs et Scientifiques du Luxembourg aims to provide a platform for sharing presentations that combine technical depth with accessibility for a broad STEM audience.

Our first speaker will be Prof. Numa Bertola, Assistant Professor at the University of Luxembourg. The topic of his presentation is "Sustainable Maintenance of Concrete Structures".

All sessions in the series are held as interactive webinars on Teams. Each session consists of a 20–30 minute presentation followed by a Q&A discussion, with a total duration of one hour.

Event details

• Date: Monday 29 June, 12:30
• Audience: Open to anyone with an interest in STEM topics
• Registration: register here (link)

Theme of the webinar

Concrete structures are often demolished long before reaching the end of their actual structural potential. This leads to the loss of valuable materials, embodied carbon, useful load-bearing capacity, and sometimes cultural value. For the construction sector to reduce its environmental impact, we need to move beyond a simple “demolish and rebuild” logic and make better use of what already exists.

This presentation will discuss practical solutions for the sustainable management of concrete structures. It will explore new high-performance materials, monitoring technologies, and data-informed assessment methods.

The first part will show how modern sensing technologies can help engineers better understand the actual performance of existing structures and support more reliable decisions.

The second part will focus on rehabilitation with ultra-high-performance concrete, a solution that can improve both durability and load-bearing capacity while extending service life.

The final part will introduce an emerging approach: when demolition cannot be avoided, concrete elements can be carefully extracted and reused in new structures.

Together, these strategies offer a sustainable framework for managing existing concrete assets. They show how engineers can extend service life, reduce waste and carbon emissions, and create economic value by treating existing structures not as obsolete objects, but as resources for the future.

Prof. Numa Bertola

Numa Bertola is an Assistant Professor at the University of Luxembourg and has been leading the Sustainable Concrete Structures group since 2024.

After obtaining an MSc in Civil Engineering from EPFL in 2016, he completed a PhD at the Singapore-ETH Centre in 2020 on the topic of infrastructure monitoring. He then conducted postdoctoral research at EPFL (under Prof. Eugen Brühwiler) on the assessment and rehabilitation of concrete structures.

About STEM Spotlight Luxembourg

STEM Spotlight Luxembourg is an online lecture series organised by the Association of Engineers and Scientists of Luxembourg (IngSci).

The series highlights innovative STEM projects, research, and engineering work connected to Luxembourg. Its goal is to provide a platform for sharing presentations that combine technical depth with accessibility for a broad STEM audience.

The series welcomes speakers from academia, industry, start-ups, public institutions, and applied research environments connected to Luxembourg. Talks are designed to be informative, concise, and accessible to STEM professionals beyond the speaker’s own field of expertise.

Audience

Members of the Ingénieurs et Scientifiques du Luxembourg from a wide range of disciplines and career stages, as well as anyone with a strong interest in STEM topics. The talks are intended to be accessible to technically minded participants who may not be specialists in the speaker's field.