Building Research Establishment

{{Short description|Centre of building science in the United Kingdom, owned by charitable organisation the BRE Trust}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Building Research Establishment

| full_name =

| logo = File:BRE logo Indigo 100mm.jpg

| logo_size =

| image = File:Building Research Station, Garston-geograph-4613243.jpg

| formation = {{start date and age|1921}}

| location_city = Garston, Hertfordshire

| location_country = England

}}

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is a centre of building science in the United Kingdom, owned by charitable organisation the BRE Trust. It is a former UK government national laboratory that was privatised in 1997. BRE provides research, advice, training, testing, certification and standards for both public and private sector organisations in the UK and abroad. It has its headquarters in Garston, Hertfordshire, England, with regional sites in Glasgow, Swansea, the US, India, the Middle East and China.{{cite web|url=https://bregroup.com/contact/|website=bregroup.com|title=Contact us|date=30 January 2018 |access-date=23 November 2022}}

BRE is funded with income from commissioned research, commercial programmes and by a number of digital tools for use in the construction sector.

Programmes

BRE's certification arm, BRE Global, is an independent, third-party certification body responsible for sustainability certification schemes such as BREEAM (for buildings and communities), CEEQUAL (for infrastructure), the Home Quality Mark (for housing) and LPCB certification (for fire and security products and services).

BRE's training arm, the BRE Academy, provides online and classroom courses on built environment related issues like sustainability, fire, resilience and building information modelling (BIM).

BRE also carries out research and data generation in support of national and international standards and building codes, including the UK building regulations. It also develops its own standards for responsible sourcing (BES 6001),{{cite web|url=http://bregroup.com/services/standards/responsible-sourcing/|website=bregroup.com|title=Responsible Sourcing of Construction Projects|access-date=23 November 2022}} and ethical labour sourcing (BES 6002).{{cite web|url=https://www.bre.co.uk/ethical-sourcing|website=bregroup.com|title=Ethical Labour Sourcing Standards (ELS)|access-date=23 November 2022}}

BRE's digital tools include construction waste management tool SMARTWaste and construction health, safety and wellbeing tool YellowJacket. It also has UKAS accredited testing laboratories, and a publishing business in partnership with IHS Press called the BRE Bookshop.

Ownership

The Building Research Establishment is owned by the BRE Trust, a registered charity that works to support research and education in the built environment. All of the profits accrued by BRE are passed to the trust and are used to fund new research and education programmes designed to meet the trust's goal of promoting safety and sustainability.

Over the last 20 years{{when|date=March 2018}} the BRE Trust has funded 117 PhDs on a total research programme of £15m, with other funding levered into the sector as a whole from research councils and European Union research sources.

The BRE Trust also financially supports five university Centres of Excellence. One of the first centres established was at the University of Edinburgh in 2004, a research and education programme on fire safety engineering. The other centres are in Strathclyde (energy utilisation), Bath (construction materials), Cardiff (sustainable engineering), and Brasília (integrated and sustainable communities).

History

[[File:Operation Chastise (the Dambusters' Raid) 16 - 17 May 1943 C(AM)1603.jpg|thumb|upright|1943 image of

1:50 Scale model of the Möhne Dam built for Operation Chastise (the Dambusters' Raid), Building Research Establishment]]

BRE was founded in 1921 as the Building Research Board{{cite web|url=https://bregroup.com/about-us/our-history/|website=bregroup.com|title=Our history|date=16 September 2016 |access-date=23 November 2022}} at East Acton as part of the British Civil Service, as an effort to improve the quality of housing in the United Kingdom.{{cite journal|url=https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/men-in-white-coatsmen-in-grey-suits-new-public-management-and-the-funding-of-scientific-research-in-the-uk(17bf64ec-ebd8-4e14-acb0-a456e4ed4c27)/export.html|publisher=University of Manchester|journal=Accounting, Auditing & Accountability|volume=11, 3|pages=267–291|year=1998|title=Men in White Coats....Men in Grey Suits: new public management and the funding of scientific research in the UK|first1=Rebecca|last1=Boden|first2=Philip|last2=Gummett|first3=Deborah|last3=Cox|first4=Kate|last4=Barker|issn=1368-0668|access-date=23 November 2022}}

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 Dambusters Raid of 1943{{cite web|url=http://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/Education/Explore-online/Chocks-Away-The-Story-of-Local-Aviation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727034826/http://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/Learning/Explore-online/Chocks-Away-The-Story-of-Local-Aviation|archive-date=27 July 2011|work=St Albans Museums|title=Chocks Away: The Story of Local Aviation}} A small scale model of the dam used for testing can still be found at the Centre in Garston, Watford, today.

BRE was a founding member in 1976 of BSRIA, the Building Services Research and Information Association and the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) in 2007.

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 of the Environment on 19 March 1997.{{cite web |url=http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/changes/index.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203051340/http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/changes/index.asp|archive-date=3 February 2007|website=civilservice.gov.uk|title=Effects of changes in departmental responsibilities on departmental staff numbers - 1985 to October 2003}}

From 1 January 2013, BRE took over the management of the UK and Ireland chapter of BuildingSMART.{{cite news|url=https://www.construction-manager.co.uk/news/bre-buildingsmart-deal-will-hasten-bim-adoption/|work=Construction Manager|title=BuildingSMART deal will hasten BIM adoption|date=20 December 2012|access-date=23 November 2022}} In 2017, this responsibility was passed to the UK BIM Alliance (now known as Nima).{{cite web |title=History |url=https://wearenima.im/history/ |website=nima |access-date=5 September 2024}}

In August 2016, Constructing Excellence merged with BRE, with BRE undertaking to maintain the CE's brands and functions.{{cite news|url=http://www.infrastructure-intelligence.com/article/aug-2016/constructing-excellence-merge-bre|work=Infrastructure Intelligence|title=Constructing Excellence to merge with BRE|first=Andy|last=Walker|date=16 August 2016|access-date=23 November 2022}}

Since the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, BRE has been criticised for holding poor fire safety standards, all the while via reviewing cases like that of Grenfell.{{cite press release|url=https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2022/05/13/fbu-calls-grenfell-building-safety-body-be-nationalised|work=Fire Brigades Union|title=FBU calls for Grenfell building safety body to be nationalised|date=13 May 2022|access-date=23 November 2022}}{{cite journal|url=https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=dfc0488e-761b-47d4-9a5a-4a0007f38cb8|publisher=Lexology|journal=Beale & Co|title=Fire Safety: First Substantive Post-Grenfell Judgment|first1=Michael|last1=O'Brien|first2=Cameron|last2=Baker|date=20 July 2022|access-date=22 November 2022|url-access=subscription}}{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/the-uks-privatisation-drive-cost-lives-research-suggests-194570|work=The Conversation|title=The UK's privatisation drive cost lives, research suggests|first1=Andrew|last1=Watterson|first2=Matthias|last2=Beck|date=21 November 2022|access-date=23 November 2022}} The final (phase 2) report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, published in September 2024, was critical of BRE suggesting its once recognised international status as a leader in fire safety had been compromised, talking of a "desire to put BRE's status in the industry and commercial position ahead of considerations of public safety."{{cite news |title=Grenfell report exposes BRE post-privatisation failings |url=https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/grenfell-report-exposes-bre-post-privatisation-failings |access-date=5 September 2024 |work=The Construction Index |date=4 September 2024}} Members of the House of Lords called for BRE to be stripped of its responsibility to certify modern methods of construction, following the Grenfell Inquiry criticism.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Chris |title=Calls for research centre to stop certifying MMC post-Grenfell |url=https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/buildings/building-safety/calls-for-research-centre-to-stop-certifying-mmc-post-grenfell-06-09-2024/ |access-date=7 September 2024 |work=Construction News |date=6 September 2024}} BRE defended its role, rejected claims it was not impartial and insisting its testing approach was robust.

References

Bibliography

{{cite book|author=F.M. Lea|title=Science and building: a history of the Building Research Station|publisher=HMSO|year=1971}}
{{cite book|author=B.J. Rendle|title=Fifty years of timber research: a short history of the Forest Products Research Laboratory, Princes Risborough|publisher=HMSO|year=1976|isbn=978-0-11-670546-4}}
{{cite book|author=R.E.H. Read|title=A short history of the Fire Research Station, Borehamwood|publisher=BRE|year=1994|url=http://www.brebookshop.com/details.jsp?id=561}}
{{cite journal|author=G.S.T. Armer|author2=P.S.J. Buller|year=1996|title=Some highlights of 75 years' structural engineering research at BRE|journal=Structural Engineer|volume=74|issue=11|pages=194–196|issn=1466-5123|url=https://www.istructe.org/journal/volumes/volume-74-(published-in-1996)/issues/issue-11/articles/some-highlights-of-75-years-structural-engineering}}
{{cite journal|author=R. Courtney|year=1997|title=Building Research Establishment – past, present and future|journal=Building Research and Information|volume=25|issue=5|pages=285–291|issn=1466-4321|doi=10.1080/096132197370264|bibcode=1997BuRI...25..285C }}

{{coord|51.7001|-0.3737|type:landmark_region:GB-HRT|display=title|name=BRE}}

Category:Building research

Category:Environmental charities based in the United Kingdom

Category:Housing in the United Kingdom

Category:Organizations established in 1920

Category:Privatised executive agencies of the United Kingdom government

Category:Research institutes in Hertfordshire

Category:1920 establishments in England