Abstract
The use of concrete in developing countries is rapidly growing. There is however, a strong possibility that its increasing application as a construction material is likely to be accompanied by increase in incidents of construction failures. Such are problems that have been experienced by many countries during infancy of the concrete industry. Concrete construction is resource intensive and construction failures come with signifi-cant economic costs, loss of resources and sometimes, fatalities. For sustainable devel-opment in Africa, countries cannot afford to incur waste of resources and enormous expenses from failures that occur especially in avoidable circumstances. Although re-search in concrete technology is growing rapidly and faces many challenges associated with skills and technological expertise, an important contributor to failure is that there is much existing knowledge that is not adequately applied. The reason for this redundant knowledge base is inadequate technology transfer to all levels of the work force – from design engineers to the concrete work team at the construction site. This paper explores some of the barriers to effective technology transfer and considers ways of dealing with this problem in developing countries. Also presented is a case study of a recent fatal col-lapse of a new reinforced concrete building under construction in Uganda.