Dr Hoar's Committee shook government and industry in 1971 when it reported to the Department of Trade and Industry the annual cost to the nation of corrosion and the scope for conserving resources by better measures for corrosion protection'!). The report, corrosion in the construction industry figured prominently. The scope for containing losses lay in selecting better protection, in improving specifications, and in exercising more competent supervision when applying protectives.
In the past 10 years, there has been a wider recognition of the importance of corrosion. There have been, and still are, also major developments in the practice of corrosion protection. The various groups of formerly isolated specialists have now consolidated their interests in the Institution of Corrosion Scientists and Technologists.
Civil engineers, represented by the Institution of Civil Engineers, have been actively concerned for many years with the protection of their works, and it was therefore a natural development that CIRIA should turn its attention to the subject, immediately on its formation and, incidentally, before the appointment of the Hoar Committee.
In 1964, under the chairmanship of Dr O.A. Kerensky, CIRIA set up a working party to investigate the surface preparation of steel prior to painting. Its activities were subsequently widened to include other topics concerned with protecting steelwork.
The work was timely. Until then, much structural steelwork was allowed to weather, before being wire brushed, primed with red lead in linseed oil, and overcoated with more coats in the same medium. In time, failures undoubtedly occurred, but labour costs for maintenance repainting were relatively low and were accepted. Only the neglect of structures gave cause for concern.

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