The aim of this doctoral thesis is to evaluate the level of compliance of the reinforced concrete current rules in buildings constructed between 1941 and 1973 in the city of Valencia.

At the beginning, this research presents the previous situation of the first French reinforced concrete rule from 1906. Then it establishes a comparison between both the first German and French regulations in order to examine their influence on the preparation of the Spanish rule from 1939 for public works, and the rule from 1941 for construction. This section is complemented with the comparative study of the in force regulations during the analyzed period, with a special reference to the concrete instruction from 1961 edited by the Eduardo Torroja Institute.

Once the rules have been studied, 400 original architectural projects from the Municipal Archives of the city of Valencia as well as 90 restoration projects have been consulted, and 12 experts on the art of construction have been interviewed.

As a conclusion, it seems that the fulfillment of the 1941 rule begins to be considered to the late fifties. Regarding the 1961 concrete instruction, this is taken into account for the drafting of the architectural projects to the middle of the sixties. And finally, the regulation from 1968 was of a faster acceptance and compliance. From the seventies onwards it is usual to find projects with clear references to the new rule.