Strengthening of concrete members using steel plates is a well known and an extensively applied technique. Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been established as an alternative method for rehabilitation and strengthening of concrete structures. In this project, reinforced concrete (RC) beams had been externally strengthened with glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) sheets. In order to investigate the load capacity and member failure by altering the number of bonded layers (two or four), a series of static tests was carried out. Results show that, by the use of U-jackets, the deflection is reduced and the load capacity of the member is increased up to four times compared with the conventional RC beams. Two failure modes were observed; failures of the GFRP close to the mid-span area (when 2-layers GFRP had been used) and a shear failure between the GFRP sheet and the concrete surface at the end of the beams (when 4-layers were used).