The renovation and rebuilding of areas in Lisbon has led to work on buildings constructed in the Pombaline downtown district. These buildings were constructed on wooden pilings, as a means of stabilising unstable soils and transfer the loads from buildings to soils with adequate bearing capacity. These methods also increased the resilience of the reconstruction works to future possible earthquakes. Concern has been raised over the suitability to continue such piling, given some of them have been in service for 280 years, and as such a survey was undertaken to ascertain their mechanical properties and levels of decay. This of course meant sacrificing a range of these for laboratory study. Work has assessed the mechanical properties and visual levels of decay in the first instance, whilst more detailed analysis using Computed Tomographic (CT) Scanning has allowed internal assessment of the poles. Results reported show many of the poles were suitable for extended service life, whilst the use of CT scanning gives clear 3-dimensional evidence of levels of decay and possible mineral inclusion.

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