The Concrete Yearbook is a very important source of information for engineers involved in the planning, design, analysis, and construction of concrete structures. It is published on a yearly basis and offers chapters devoted to various, highly topical subjects. Every chapter provides extensive, up‐to‐date information written by renowned experts in the areas concerned. The subjects change every year and may return in later years for an updated treatment. This publication strategy guarantees that not only is the latest knowledge presented, but that the choice of topics itself meets readers' demands for up‐to‐date news.

For decades, the themes chosen have been treated in such a way that, on the one hand, the reader gets background information and, on the other, becomes familiar with the practical experience, methods, and rules needed to put this knowledge into practice. For practising engineers, this is an optimum combination. In order to find adequate solutions for the wide scope of everyday or special problems, engineering practice requires knowledge of the rules and recommendations as well as an understanding of the theories or assumptions behind them.

During the history of the Concrete Yearbook, an interesting development has taken place. In the early editions, themes of interest were chosen on an ad hoc basis. Meanwhile, however, the building industry has gone through a remarkable evolution. Whereas in the past attention focused predominantly on matters concerning structural safety and serviceability, nowadays there is an increasing awareness of our responsibility with regard to society in a broader sense. This is reflected, for example, in the wish to avoid problems related to the limited durability of structures. Expensive repairs to structures have been, and unfortunately still are, necessary because in the past our awareness of the deterioration processes affecting concrete and reinforcing steel was inadequate. Therefore, structural design should now focus on building structures with sufficient reliability and serviceability for a specified period of time, without substantial maintenance costs. Moreover, we are confronted by a legacy of older structures that must be assessed with regard to their suitability to carry safely the increased loads often applied to them today. In this respect, several aspects of structural engineering have to be considered in an interrelated way, such as risk, functionality, serviceability, deterioration processes, strengthening techniques, monitoring, dismantlement, adaptability and recycling of structures, and structural materials plus the introduction of modern high‐performance materials. The significance of sustainability has also been recognised. This must be added to the awareness that design should focus not just on individual structures and their service lives, but on their function in a wider context as well, i.e. harmony with their environment, acceptance by society, responsible use of resources, low energy consumption, and economy. Construction processes must also become cleaner and cause less environmental impact and pollution.

The editors of the Concrete Yearbook have clearly recognised these and other trends and now offer a selection of coherent subjects that reside under the common ‘umbrella’ of a broader societal development of great relevance. In order to be able to cope with the corresponding challenges, the reader can find information on progress in technology, theoretical methods, new research findings, new ideas on design and construction, developments in production and assessment and conservation strategies. The current selection of topics and the way they are treated makes the Concrete Yearbook a splendid opportunity for engineers to find out about and stay abreast of developments in engineering knowledge, practical experience and concepts in the field of the design of concrete structures on an international level.

Building with precast concrete components is as old as building with reinforced concrete itself, for the very first reinforced concrete element, Joseph Monier's flower tub (c. 1850), was, in essence, a precast concrete item.

It was only in the second half of the twentieth century, however, that this form of construction took on its industrialised form. Factors that contributed to this were, in particular, the development of heavy lifting equipment, the use of mechanised steel moulds, and, more recently, automated manufacturing systems, for producing suspended floor elements especially.

This book on precast concrete construction is based on the manuscript written by Prof. Dr.‐Ing. Volker Hahn (former director of Ed. Züblin AG) for his lectures at the University of Stuttgart in the early 1970s, which was recast as a book by Dr.‐Ing. Alfred Steinle. The manuscript rewritten by Alfred Steinle and Volker Hahn first appeared in Beton‐Kalender 1988. That article was reprinted in 1995 and in revised form in 2009 and 2016. It was in 1998 that the information first appeared as an actual book as part of the Bauingenieur‐Praxis series. The second edition was published in 2009 and now it is time for a new edition.

With modern methods of construction making use of industrial methods of manufacture, which includes construction with factory‐precast concrete components, the design of the individual elements, and also the entire structure, is heavily influenced by the factory production. On the manufacturing side, the growing trend towards mechanisation and automation in production is evident.

The development of high‐performance concretes provides us with the chance to employ these for precast concrete construction in particular because factory production presents excellent conditions for their use. The first precast concrete components made from ultrahigh‐strength concrete for bridges and façades are already in use, the latter also making use of glass fibres or carbon inlays. Besides the industrial production of batches and series of components, we are seeing more and more one‐offs being produced, which take advantage of the excellent production options in order to achieve a high standard of quality. These tendencies will become even more obvious as more and more progress is made in the development of concrete as a building material.

The authors' aim in writing this book is to map out the boundary conditions of factory prefabrication for architects and structural engineers and also to demonstrate the opportunities presented by this method of construction – and thus contribute to the ongoing development of precast concrete structures.

Alfred Steinle (1936–2017) turned the lecture notes of Prof. Dr.‐Ing. Volker Hahn, which dated from the early 1970s, into a manuscript that became the starting point for this book. After a number of years in bridge‐building, Alfred Steinle also became heavily involved in precast concrete construction at Züblin. His theoretical work covered bridge‐building with torsion and section deformations in box‐girder bridges and in precast concrete structures within the scope of the 6M system with corbels, notched beam ends, and pocket foundations. In addition, he was a key figure in many precast concrete projects such as the 6M schools, the University of Riyadh, schools with foamed concrete wall panels in Iraq, Züblin House, and the construction of a modern automated precasting plant. Alfred Steinle retired in 1999 and by that time he had risen to the post of authorised signatory in the engineering office at Züblin's head office.

Hubert Bachmann (b. 1959) began his career in a precasting plant in 1976 as an apprentice for concrete and precast concrete construction. After studying structural engineering and completing his doctorate at the University of Karlsruhe, he accepted a post in the structural engineering office of Ed. Züblin AG in Stuttgart in 1993, where he has worked ever since. His duties have included the detailed design of structures of all kinds plus research and development in the civil and structural engineering sectors. He has been presenting the series of Hahn lectures on precast concrete structures at the University of Stuttgart since 2003.

Mathias Tillmann (b. 1970) has been an engineering and standards consultant at Fachvereinigung Deutscher Betonfertigteilbau e.V. (FDB) since 2007 and technical director since 2008. He specialised in structural engineering during his studies at RWTH Aachen University. After attaining his diploma, he worked as a project engineer, structural engineer, and designer. Mathias Tillmann has written numerous brochures, advisory documents, and specialist articles on the subject of precast concrete.

All three authors have been or still are very much involved in construction industry organisations, many technical boards and national and international standards committees concerned with precast concrete construction.