@ChrisPBrough profile picture
Christopher Brough @ChrisPBrough

Consultant and researcher in defective concrete @Petrolabltd. Spending more time in defective concrete than I ever expected.

Joined February 2022
  • Tweets 491
  • Following 93
  • Followers 138
108 Photos and videos
Christopher Brough retweeted
Professor Paul Dunlop @ProfPaulDunlop
10 Nov 2025
Well done John Garrett and @ChrisPBrough for running the @EngineerIreland seminar on defective concrete that is now online 👇 youtube.com/watch?v=vGkdqxjM…
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A comparison across 2 years of collecting data (2023 vs 2025), showing the growth of the deleterious blockwork problem around Clare and Limerick, as well as some other areas of Ireland. Some important notes on the data in the following tweets.
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The density colours are indicative at this stage but the next map iteration will work on further clarity on incident rate. There has been an increase in the density of occurrences in Donegal across those 2 years which isn't picked out in the map at present.
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The full talk will be available publicly shortly for any who may be interested and covers some updated data, but also questions around buying within the present market and the present uncertainty around that.
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Lovely trip visiting Limerick, and thanks to @engineerireland for the invite to speak, and to the University of Limerick for hosting an event. However, shocked at the potential scale of the impact in Clare and Limerick from the deleterious blockwork problem.
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Reading the redraft of I.S.465 I was reminded that not all ISA occurs quickly. The example below is a hall built in 1926 (Cornwall) that is now Unsound - it's taken nearly 100 years to get to this point - slow, but ultimately critical failure.
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One of the reasons this matters is both the ultimate solution (i.e. demolition and rebuild as recommended in the revised standard), but also setting up a suitable testing regime to cover conveyancing purposes. Some properties that will fail will still look ok at the moment.
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Delighted this is out. Look forward to reading and engaging with the changes.
NSAI
 @NSAI_Standards
31 Mar 2025
Important notice: public consultation for I.S. 465 now open A second, fully revised edition of I.S. 465 has been developed and the NSAI has launched a public consultation. I.S. 465 is "Assessment, testing and classification of damaged buildings containing concrete blocks containing harmful substances." Full details of I.S. 465, and the commenting system, are available here - nsai.ie/about/news/public-co… This public consultation will close on Wednesday, May 28th. #HaveYourSay
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A bit of petrographic "tinsel" as we are winding into the Christmas break. This is rare red acicular dumortierite growing within a quartz vein. The vein X-cuts the section so as to leave the dumortierite like a piece of tinsel draped across the sample #geoart #thinsectionthursday
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Intriguing one from general petrography analysis with what looks like a xenolith of a rounded basalt hosted within another basalt. Both are compositionally very similar suggesting eruption, solidification, erosion & then eruption again. #thinsectionthursday #petrography
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Coming back to #Irish petrography - sometimes you see Fe oxide staining in hand specimen but rarely such a good example in thin section - this happens when Fe from the oxidising pyrrhotite in the phyllite leaches into the surrounding binder. And it's not just Fe.
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This is very interesting. Cultural reasons were different obviously but can have an older maternal age with high fertility rates. Raising fertility rates is something the West will need to grapple with in the not far distant future of course - interesting to see how it does.
Inquisitive Bird
 @Scientific_Bird
2 Dec 2024
In Denmark in the 1850s, the age of women's first birth was surprisingly high: average of 28 years old. This can be observed from parish records. Despite this, fertility was high. This was due to an 1824 law prohibiting marriage if you couldn't financially support your family.
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RT @RosieDuffield1: After 7.5 years in the House, I did not get to speak, on behalf of all those who've written, for even 3 minutes, on one…
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Such a difficult day for parliamentarians and the country. This summary from @danny__kruger is on point. Once we establish a 'right to die' everyone facing death will have to choose. The vulnerable will be coerced, subliminally or explicitly.
Dan Hitchens
 @ddhitchens
29 Nov 2024
I’m biased because I agree, but @danny__kruger’s was honestly the best speech – best conclusion to one, anyway – I have heard from any living parliamentarian. Key passage:
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Understandably our train was cancelled and we had to divert round to Plymouth - in the weather chaos we did end up catching Schrodinger's train - it was both cancelled and running at the same time! - (see pic - it did get us home in the end though, for which thank you @GWRHelp)
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Visualisation of degradation in concrete can help illustrate the nature of ISA risk. The image below is from research done on a critically failed block, using SEM mapping of sulphates. The pink is gypsum - cracking expansively through aggregate (green) and binder.
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The previous image has a scale of roughly half a mm. But all the micro-cracking is space creating so if you compound and repeat it over the scale of blockwork then you get similar cracking to what was so visually demonstrated in @ProfPaulDunlop's recent paper.
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Christopher Brough retweeted
Professor Paul Dunlop @ProfPaulDunlop
24 Sep 2024
Our new paper that's the most detailed analysis of the role pyrrhotite & internal sulfate attack plays in causing concrete failure in Donegal homes is free to download @EngineerIreland @DeptHousingIRL @HousingAgencyIE @NSAI_Standards @micaactiongroup 👇 sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
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En vacances - enjoying some downtime with the family and checking in intermittently.
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