Structural and base materials

Concrete & Cement Materials

Cement-based materials appear in almost every building, from the ground up: foundations and slabs, structural frames, floor screeds, paving and decorative surfaces. What they have in common is that they are mixed, placed and cured rather than delivered finished, so the result depends heavily on conditions on the day and on the workmanship of the people placing them.

These entries describe what each material is and what its behaviour depends on. They do not contain mix designs, strength classes, reinforcement schedules, curing regimes or placement instructions — those are engineering and manufacturer matters, and they belong with the qualified professionals responsible for the work.

23 reference entries · educational materials reference · suitability always depends on the complete assembly and qualified professional review

Scope

What this category covers

Where the boundary of this part of the library sits, including what it deliberately leaves to qualified professionals.

Cement-based materials placed wet and cured in position or precast off site
Screeds, levelling compounds and cementitious surface systems
Admixtures and reinforcement that modify how a cementitious mix behaves
Not covered: mix design, strength classes, reinforcement design or curing schedules

Start here

Frequently referenced entries

A starting point, not a ranking — these are simply the entries most people arrive looking for.

Ready-mixed concrete →Concrete batched at a plant and delivered wet by mixer truck, taking its shape from formwork and its surface from work done on site.Cement screed →A sand and cement layer laid to a thickness over a structural floor and worked level by hand, forming a true base for the floor finish above it.Polished concrete →A floor produced by grinding and refining an existing concrete slab with progressively finer diamond tooling, so the finish is cut out of the slab itself.

All entries

Every concrete & cement entry

The complete set for this category, in reference order.

Entry describes

Role in an assembly

Part of a building

Ready-mixed concrete →Concrete batched at a plant and delivered wet by mixer truck, taking its shape from formwork and its surface from work done on site.

Precast concrete panels →Concrete units cast in a factory mould and cured under controlled conditions, delivered as finished elements to be lifted and connected rather than poured.

Reinforced concrete →Concrete with steel embedded in it, so the concrete resists compression while the reinforcement carries the tension that plain concrete cannot take.

Portland cement →The hydraulic binder that sets concrete, mortar, render and screed. It is one ingredient alongside aggregate and water, not the finished material itself.

Cement screed →A sand and cement layer laid to a thickness over a structural floor and worked level by hand, forming a true base for the floor finish above it.

Self-levelling compound →A flowable powder-and-liquid mix poured over an existing floor base, spreading to find its own level and correct surface unevenness before a covering is laid.

Polished concrete →A floor produced by grinding and refining an existing concrete slab with progressively finer diamond tooling, so the finish is cut out of the slab itself.

Microcement →A thin cement-based coating trowelled over an existing floor, wall or joinery surface to give a jointless finish, where the substrate governs the result.

Fibre-reinforced concrete →Concrete carrying short fibres dispersed through the mix, used mainly to control cracking, and not a replacement for reinforcement a designer has calculated.

Lightweight concrete →Concrete made with porous lighter aggregates, or with introduced air, so that it weighs less than normal-weight concrete and trades density against other properties.

Sprayed concrete →Concrete projected onto a face at speed rather than poured into formwork, compacting on impact, and used where forming a surface would be impractical.

Glassfibre-reinforced concrete →A thin, light, mouldable cement and sand composite reinforced with alkali-resistant glass fibres, used for panels and features rather than as a structural concrete.

Concrete admixtures →Materials added in small quantities to a concrete mix to change how it behaves fresh or hardened, dosed by the supplier as part of a designed mix rather than chosen by an owner.

Precast concrete paving →Factory-made concrete units laid on a prepared base to surface patios, paths and drives, where what sits beneath the paving decides how it performs.

Cement replacements →Ground slag, fly ash, limestone fines and similar powders that stand in for part of the cement in a mix, changing its early life rather than dosing its workability.

Void former →Units placed in the ground beneath concrete so that a void exists or appears under it, bought to be crushed or to break down rather than to stay intact.

Repair mortar →A bagged cementitious mortar formulated to be built back onto a cut-out, reinforcement-exposed concrete face and stay there on vertical and overhead work.

Non-metallic bar →Reinforcement made from glass, basalt, carbon or aramid fibres in a resin matrix: a bar that does not rust, which changes what cover is being asked to do.

Non-shrink grout →A bagged cementitious grout formulated not to shrink away from what it beds, because the gap it fills under a base plate or in a socket transfers load.

Precast drainage units →Factory-cast concrete rings, chamber bases, cover slabs, pipes and headwalls for buried drainage work, jointed on site and hidden once the trench is backfilled.

Concrete kerb & edging →Moulded concrete linear units set along the edge of a paved area to restrain it, form channels and mark level changes, produced in a range of standard profiles.

Recycled aggregate →Mineral aggregate recovered from crushed concrete, demolition arisings or industrial by-products, described by where it came from rather than by what it is.

Spacers and chairs →Moulded plastic, cementitious or wire accessories that hold reinforcement at its intended position while concrete is placed, and stay cast into the element.

Browse by role

By the role the material plays

The same entries, clustered by what they typically do in an assembly. A material can appear in more than one cluster because it genuinely plays more than one role.

Structure

Materials that carry load or form the primary frame.

Substrate and base

Backgrounds and bases that other materials are fixed or applied to.

Moisture and air control

Thin layers that control where moisture and air are allowed to move.

Precast drainage units →

External surface

The visible outer face of a wall or roof.

Internal surface

The visible inner face people see, touch and walk on.

Jointing and fixing

Materials that bond, seal, support or connect other materials.

Where they appear

Parts of a building this category touches

An orientation aid only — it does not imply that any entry is suitable for that part of a particular building.

Foundations and groundworks · 17
Structural frame · 14
External walls · 7
Roofs · 1
Internal walls and ceilings · 2
Floors · 19
Wet areas · 3
External works and landscape · 10

Elsewhere on Build Design Hub

Planning guidance for this subject

This library explains what materials are. These sections help with choosing between them and preparing for the conversation.

Materials planning guides →The planning and comparison side of the same subject.Construction guides →How structural and groundwork stages are planned.Structural discussion preparation →Questions to prepare before a structural conversation.

Building Systems Encyclopedia

The assemblies these materials sit in

A material page explains what a substance is. These pages explain how the assembly around it is organised, what roles its components perform and which interfaces matter.

Structure and supportFoundation and Ground Interface Systems →Assemblies where a building first meets undisturbed ground — strip, pad, raft and piled foundations, pile caps, ground improvement and ground gas protection.Structure and supportFloor Structure and Build-Up Systems →Horizontal decks read together with the stack placed on them, told apart by what spans, what is infill and what is only a topping over both.Structure and supportBelow-Ground Structures, Earth Retention and Water Control →Assemblies built against retained ground, where lateral earth pressure and the water held in that ground decide the design together rather than one at a time.

Materials & Systems Encyclopedia

Reference entries for building materials, product formats and system components — what they are, what their behaviour depends on and what to ask about them.

Browse the full Materials Library →

HELPERG Ecosystem

Web products

Mobile apps