Durable materials conserve resources and reduce wastes and the environmental impacts of repair and replacement. Defined as the ability to last a long time without significant deterioration, durability is a key sustainable attribute of concrete and concrete structures.

Concrete, as a structural material and as the building exterior skin, has the ability to withstand nature’s deteriorating mechanisms as well as its natural disasters. Although buildings can last 50 to 100 years, the design service life of most buildings is often 30 years. However, most concrete and masonry buildings are demolished due to obsolescence rather than deterioration. In fact, a concrete shell can be left in place if a building's use or function changes or when a building interior is renovated, such as when a warehouse is converted into residential lofts.

The durability of concrete is often defined as its ability to resist weathering action, chemical attack, and abrasion while maintaining its desired engineering properties. Different concretes require different degrees of durability depending on the exposure environment and properties desired. For example, concrete exposed to tidal seawater will have different requirements than an indoor concrete floor. Concrete ingredients, their proportioning, interactions between them, placing and curing practices, and the service environment determine the ultimate durability and life of concrete.

The durability of concrete lends to sustainable structures in many ways, including:

High Humidity and Wind-Driven Rain: Concrete is resistant to the wind-driven rain and moist outdoor air of hot and humid climates. Moisture that enters a building must come through joints between concrete elements. More importantly, if moisture does enter through joints, it will not damage the concrete.

Ultraviolet Resistance: The ultraviolet portion of solar radiation does not harm concrete. Using colored pigments in concrete retains the color in concrete long after paints have faded due to the sun’s effects.

Inedible: Vermin and insects cannot destroy concrete because it is inedible. Due to its hardness, vermin and insects will not bore through concrete.

Fire resistance. Of all construction materials, concrete is one of the most resistant to heat and fire. Unlike wood, concrete does not burn. Unlike steel, it does not soften and bend. Concrete does not break down until it is exposed to thousands of degrees Fahrenheit—far more than is present in the typical residential or office building fire.