The history of BRE: a timeline

In 1921, the government invested £4,000 in converting some old wooden huts in East Acton, west London, into chemical laboratories and engineering workshops. BRE was born – though it was known as the Building Research Station until 1972. After the First World War there were strong expectations that reconstruction would raise living standards and provide better quality housing, particularly for the returning soldiers and their families – the politicians talked of ‘homes fit for heroes’. But it was recognised that UK technology was lagging behind that of other countries, and more research into building materials and methods of construction was needed. BRE was set up to meet this need, and the enthusiastic young staff were pioneers in developing and applying the new science of building.

There was a strong focus on the suitability and resilience of construction materials at this time, and in 1932 BRE published the milestone reference work, ‘Weathering of natural stone’. BRE’s expertise in this area helped a major refurbishment of the Houses of Parliament, and prevented the use of an unsuitable stone that would have caused the repairs to quickly fail.

The 1930s was a time of rapid growth for BRE. Work started on soil mechanics, and new buildings were erected for heating and ventilation research and physics testing. A weathering test on bricks was begun – it was one of the earliest trails on building materials designed on a statistical basis, and BRE was one of the first research bodies to use statistical methods systematically. By 1936 staff numbers had grown to more than 200.

In 1949, a new BRE office opened at East Kilbride near Glasgow. BRE Scotland focuses on the issues that differing building materials, techniques, and particularly climate and climate change has on construction in Scotland.

BRE’s continued expansion included a new structures laboratory that opened in 1966. Within this large enclosed space, it is possible to test and trial full-scale building elements under laboratory conditions. For example, it can accommodate a four-storey building and simulate conditions ranging from floods to earthquakes. The 1960s saw the adoption of the first national building regulations, initially in Scotland and then in England and Wales (and in Northern Ireland in 1973). Working closely with government and other partners, BRE has participated in the preparation of a great many national and international standards and building codes – including the building regulations – and is still very much involved in this work.

In 1985 scientists at the World Climate Program conference predicted that increased CO2 concentrations would lead to significant rises in mean temperatures. 1987 was the hottest year on record, and three years later the 1980s was confirmed as the hottest decade since records began. With buildings responsible for an estimated 42% of UK CO2 emissions, reducing the built environment’s impact on climate change becomes an increasing focus of BRE’s work.

In 1993, fire research staff from BRE took part in a project for the European Space Agency (ESA) to study fire safety in space, working in zero gravity conditions created during steep curving parabolic flights. This work was part of preparations to send the ESA’s manned laboratory to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.