250 years of Civil Engineering Heritage in Europe

 

This document is the CNISF contribution for the action engaged at “European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE)” by the Working Group entitled “European Civil Engineering Heritage”, initiated by Nikos Zygouris (Greece) and chaired now by Gorazd Humar (Slovakia), covering
the Construction sector during last 250 years.

It is established using the format of “mini-sheets” recommended by the Working Group. This simple format was chosen in order to easily allow to select the most remarkable Works and to allow further synthetic presentation of Works at European level.

The following categories of Works have bee chosen:

The number of French cases is higher than initially recommended by the Working Group, but it takes into account various factors such as :

  • the dimension of the French territory and population, which needs developed buildings and constructions, transport infrastructures, energy production, etc…..
  • the geography of the French territory, which comprises high mountains, large rivers and estuaries, etc..
  • the high level of development of transport infrastructures along the ages,
  • the increasing need of energy production,
  • the traditional high level of interest for civil engineering in France.

Selection of French Works takes into account criteria recommended by the Working Group : Full objectivity is difficult, so this selection could be revised following advices by Colleagues.

The document is prepared progressively, chapter by chapter: the most recent deals with “Transport structures and infrastructures in the rail field”

January 2008 G. Pilot (IESF, ex CNISF)