Asphalt is mainly known for its use as a road surfacing and construction material. Of the 300 million tonnes produced in Europe, most of it is used for this purpose. However, it has also a variety of other specialist applications such as airfields, hydraulic engineering and sports surfaces. In many cases, this requires a more onerous design procedure to be followed in order to ensure that the performance objective is met. It necessarily draws on the expertise of highly specialised asphalt technologists and engineers. This symposium will review a number of the other important uses of asphalt, describing function, design, construction and performance.