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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.

14 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.

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.

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.

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 · 8
  • Structural frame · 7
  • External walls · 4
  • Roofs · 1
  • Internal walls and ceilings · 2
  • Floors · 11
  • Wet areas · 3
  • External works and landscape · 5

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.

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 →