The HMC2010 conference and TC 203-RHM final workshop took place in Prague 22-24 September 2011. The event was organised by the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ITAM AV ČR) in cooperation with RILEM. The conference was chaired by J. Válek of ITAM. The final workshop was chaired the TC 203-RHM chairman and its secretary C. Groot of TÚ Delft and J. Hughes of University of the West of Scotland. Members of the TC 203-RHM were acting also as the International Scientific Committee members of the conference. The HMC2010 Organising Committee was composed of the staff members of ITAM AV ČR.
The event was attended by 190 participants from 30 countries. Such a number of participants was regarded as a great success considering its rather narrow and specific scope and also the fact that it was only the 2nd conference in this future to be regular series. One hundred and forty-eight original contributions were selected for oral and poster presentations and are included as nine to ten page papers in the conference proceedings published by RILEM as PRO 78 including also 9 papers of the TC 203-RHM presented during the workshop on Repair mortars for historic masonry. The main conference themes were the following: Characterisation of historic mortars, Assessment of mortars and masonry, Conservation and restoration issues, Repair mortars for historic masonry. Two invited key note lectures on 'Conservation of historic renders and plasters: from laboratory to site' by R. Veiga, LNEC, Portugal and 'Non-standard testing in characterisation and consolidation assessment of historic mortars' by M. Drdácký, ITAM AV ČR, Czech Republic presented a great overview of the challenges and offered some very inspiring solutions in assessment of historic mortars.
The Organising Committee greatly appreciate the financial support of Vicat from France and VAS v.o.s. building restoration and property management company from the Czech Republic. Lafarge, France awarded a digital camera to Ana Fragata, a PhD student from LNEC, Portugal, who won the competition for the best student presentation.
Many participants expressed their great appreciation of the event and were happy to hear during the closing session that J. Hughes of UWS was proposed to be the chair of the next HMC which will take place in Scotland in 2013.
Jan Válek
ITAM AV ČR, 22 Oct. 2010 Prague
Valek@itam.cas.cz
www.itam.cas.cz/hmc2010
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