Come for the insights, stay for the impact: read on to snap up key takeaways.
The retrofit imperative
Both engineers emphasised that working on retrofit projects with concrete as a primary material is now a growing aspect of their roles, largely due to the challenge to minimise structural embodied carbon.
"We care about sustainability. And nowadays we are required to conduct whole life carbon assessments and optioneering studies at planning stages. There is a much bigger focus on retrofit in the industry now."
Concrete section analysis in practice: right tools, right time
For the Smithfield Poultry Market roof retrofit, Baldo and Guusje relied on Oasys AdSec as a core part of their concrete section analysis workflow, alongside Oasys GSA.
Because the doubly curved concrete roof is a shallow concrete shell whose behaviour is highly sensitive to stiffness, they used AdSec to generate detailed stiffness and moment–curvature data for a series of representative sections across the structure. They divided the roof into discrete zones based on changes in rebar layout and concrete thickness, modelling each one in AdSec and building a comprehensive library of accurate section analysis properties that fed into their global GSA-based assessment loop.
To reflect the building’s 1960s construction, they defined custom concrete grades with custom material curves and advanced creep behaviour within AdSec, then adjusted outputs for unique period features like smooth reinforcement in the dataflow towards GSA.
AdSec also enabled quick modelling of the V‑shaped columns with irregular geometries, making it straightforward to check combined axial and biaxial bending for bespoke sections. Clear, predictable outputs and alignment with GSA conventions meant AdSec became their default choice for reinforced concrete section analysis, supporting both simple verifications and the deeper, bespoke modelling required for a unique retrofit like this one.
“AdSec is our go-to for concrete section analysis: clear, fast, and trusted for both simple checks and bespoke, non-linear problems”