Building Research Establishment

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is a former UK government establishment (but now a private organisation, funded by the building industry) that carries out research, consultancy and testing for the construction and built environment sectors in the United Kingdom. The BRE is headquartered in Watford with regional sites in Glasgow and Port Talbot.

Among the BRE's areas of interest are participation in the preparation of national and international standards and building codes, including the UK Building Regulations. The organisation is now funded by income from its commercial programmes, the BRE bookshop, contracted work, and by bidding for research funding from government and the industries it serves. It is also a UKAS Accredited Testing Laboratory.

Programmes

The BRE also owns and operates the BREEAM and EcoHomes environmental rating schemes, and promotes the German Passivhaus ultra-low energy building standard in the UK. It also runs a number of training courses.

BRE's sister company, BRE Global is an independent approvals body offering certification of fire, security and sustainability products and services.

Ownership

The Building Research Establishment is owned by the BRE Trust, a Charitable organization, which claims to be the largest charity in the United Kingdom dedicated to research and education in the built environment. Trustees are drawn from seven groups: built environment professionals, contractors, material and product suppliers, housing, university departments, building owners, building managers and building users.

History

BRE was founded in 1921 at East Acton as part of the British Civil Service as an effort to improve the quality of housing in the United Kingdom.

During the Second World War it was involved in the confidential research and development of the bouncing bomb for use against the Möhne Dam in the famous Dambusters Raid of 1943 The small scale model of the dam used for testing can still be found at the Centre in Garston, Watford, today.

Having subsumed a number of other government organisations over the years, including the former Fire Research Station and the Princes Risborough Laboratory, it was given executive agency status in 1990 before being privatised by the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions on March 19, 1997.

See also

• Energy efficiency in British housing
• BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering at The University of Edinburgh
• Construction Industry Council
• BREEAM

References

F.M. Lea (1971). Science and building: a history of the Building Research Station. HMSO. 

B.J. Rendle (1976). Fifty years of timber research : a short history of the Forest Products Research Laboratory, Princes Risborough. HMSO. ISBN 0-11-670546-9. 

R.E.H. Read (1994). A short history of the Fire Research Station, Borehamwood. BRE. http://www.brebookshop.com/details.jsp?id=561. 

G.S.T. Armer; P.S.J. Buller (1996). "Some highlights of 75 years' structural engineering research at BRE". Structural engineer 74 (11): 194–196. ISSN 1466-5123. http://www.istructe.org/thestructuralengineer/HC/Abstract.asp?PID=5980. 

R. Courtney (1997). "Building Research Establishment - past, present and future". Building research and information 25 (5): 285–291. ISSN 1466-4321. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/rbri/1997/00000025/00000005/art00006. 

External links

• BRE official site
• BRE Trust, Registered Charity no. 1092193 at the Charity Commission
• BRE Global official site
• The role of the centre for construction innovation
• BRE evidence to the Select Committee on Environmental Audit
• PassivHausUK, operated by the BRE
• SB Alliance
• BRE Institute of Sustainable Engineering Cardiff University