1. General

Work on drafting the European standard EN 1992-1-1, better known as Eurocode 2, abbreviated "EC 2", for the design of concrete structures, began on February 14, 1980. Little did the five drafters at the time realize that it would take twenty-five years to produce a text capable of winning a favourable vote from the European Commission. In drawing up the first draft, they had taken as their base document the 1978 CEB/FIP Model Code for concrete structures (drawn up in just four years), which had just been approved by the Comité Euro-International du Béton (CEB), and the Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte (FIP).

After an initial survey of the then twelve Member States, from autumn 1984 to autumn 1985, an extended drafting group, including a representative from each Member State, was tasked...