EN1992 Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures is of fundamental importance to civil engineers given the predominance of concrete in civil engineering construction. The first part of the code, covering common design rules and design requirements for fire, is likely to be approved in January 2002 and should be released in EN standard form by 2003.The second and third parts, covering design of bridges and liquid-retaining structures respectively, are due for release in 2005.This paper looks primarily at the two sections that make up the first part. It explains the principles of ultimate and serviceability limit state design and the requirements for shear, durability and fire in particular. It also lists the other European standards to which concrete designers will need to refer.

Eurocode 9 for the design of aluminium structures was a late addition to the proposed suite of European structural design codes, reflecting the relatively recent introduction of aluminium alloys in the construction industry as an alternative to steel. With only a third of the weight and a self-protecting surface, the material has clear advantages over steel but it also behaves very differently—with a high buckling tendency, no yield plateau and complex strain-hardening characteristics.The code, currently being converted to EN standard, features several innovations including behavioural cross-section classes and new calculation methods for verification of local buckling, evaluation of rotation capacity and design of connections.

The first of Europe's new suite of structural design standards—the EN or ‘Eurocode’ series—are being published this year and, before the end of the decade, will have replaced all existing European national codes. This paper demonstrates that the codes as drafted could lead to widely varying safety levels within a given structure and increase the risk of catastrophic failure. By way of example it looks at the probability of structural steel bolts, beams and plate girders falling below their design strength and shows that the proposed Eurocode 3 design expressions could lead to some components being expensively over-designed and other parts becoming a dangerously weak link. To get around the problem it proposes the introduction of hidden safety factors in the Eurocode design equations, ensuring greater harmonisation in reliability of structural components, reduced cost and increased structural safety.

The following pages provide brief details of the location, history, geography, political structure, economy and demography of the majority of the countries in central and eastern Europe. There are also details of civil engineering infrastructure and in many cases information about the civil engineering profession. A standard format has been adopted but not all elements are reported due to either difficulty in obtaining reliable data or due to change in progress in the country. In particular, information on the western Balkan states has not been included.

Taming the mighty 6300 km long Yangtze river in south China was never going to be easy. Its history is littered with catastrophic flooding events that have destroyed lives and livelihoods and caused untold economic loss. The proposal to build what will still be the world's largest flood-control dam at the Three Gorges site in the river's mid-section was put forward as long ago as 1919. Wars and revolutions delayed the start until 1993 and completion is not now scheduled until 2009. This paper describes the planning and design of the £15 billion project and reports on construction progress to date. It highlights in particular the difficulties experienced in assessing the scheme's benefits against its costs—not least the need to relocate and re-skill over one million people.