Building Research Establishment
Encyclopedia
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
Built environment
The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.The built...

 sectors in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The BRE is headquartered in Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...

 with regional sites in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 and Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...

.

Among the BRE's areas of interest are participation in the preparation of national and international standards and building code
Building code
A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...

s, 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
BREEAM
BRE Environmental Assessment Method is a voluntary measurement rating for green buildings that was established in the UK by the Building Research Establishment . Since its inception it has since grown in scope and geographically, being exported in various guises across the globe...

 and EcoHomes
EcoHomes
EcoHomes is an environmental rating scheme for homes in the United Kingdom. It is the domestic version of the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method BREEAM, which can also be applied to a variety of non-residential buildings....

 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
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

, 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
British Civil Service
Her Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as the Home Civil Service, is the permanent bureaucracy of Crown employees that supports Her Majesty's Government - the government of the United Kingdom, composed of a Cabinet of ministers chosen by the prime minister, as well as the devolved...

 as an effort to improve the quality of housing in the United Kingdom.

During the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 it was involved in the confidential research and development of the bouncing bomb
Bouncing bomb
A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner, in order to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-determined...

 for use against the Möhne Dam
Möhne Reservoir
The Möhne Reservoir is an artificial lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, some 45 km east of Dortmund. The dam was built between 1908 and 1913 to help control floods, regulate water levels on the Ruhr river downstream, and generate hydropower. Today, the lake is also a tourist attraction...

 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
Executive agency
An executive agency, also known as a next-step agency, is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate in order to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland...

 status in 1990 before being privatised
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 by the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions on March 19, 1997.

See also

  • Energy efficiency in British housing
    Energy efficiency in British housing
    Domestic housing in the United Kingdom presents a possible opportunity for achieving the 20% overall cut in UK carbon dioxide emissions targeted by the Government for 2010...

  • BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering
    BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering
    The BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering is the research group at The Institute of Infrastructure and Environment, University of Edinburgh conducting research in fire, structures and environment....

     at The University of Edinburgh
    University of Edinburgh
    The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

  • Construction Industry Council
    Construction Industry Council
    The Construction Industry Council is the representative body for the professional bodies, research organizations and specialist business associations in the construction industry in the United Kingdom...

  • BREEAM
    BREEAM
    BRE Environmental Assessment Method is a voluntary measurement rating for green buildings that was established in the UK by the Building Research Establishment . Since its inception it has since grown in scope and geographically, being exported in various guises across the globe...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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