The upgrading of building structures, be it for structural rectification purposes, or for a change in use building use, has always been associated with significant financial cost. Whilst the procedure may be inhrently necessary, the cost associated with upgrade has often meant the proposed work is delayed. When the decision to go ahead is made, more often than not, steel and concrete has been the chosen methodology to achieve the outcome. Whilst the advantages of Carbon Fibre have been well documented for many years, it is often overlooked due to a perceived higher cost than the concrete/steel combination.

However, this is not necessarily always the case. In 2007, Remedial Building Services engaged the services of Mr D Beneke to help quantify the cost of upgrade to an existing building in North Sydney (Australia). Analysis of the building and the required rectifciation found that through use of finite analysis, not only could the structural strength and load baring capacity of the building be enhanced through use of carbon fibre, but the cost of the rectification could be recouped faster than alternative methods, making carbon fibre the preferred and most viable alternative.

The use of finite analysis in this instance demonstrated that through a clinical approach to use of carbon fibre, not only is the technology better, but that use of it can actually lower the real cost to the project. The attached published paper quanitifies how this can be achieved and documents a case study to a large building in North Sydney and how a system of optimization was used including the use of finite element analysis. This paper goes a long way to further demonstrating why carbon fibre stripping and binding is a valuable tool in viable building rectification.