|
National Building
Research Organisation
Introduction
The National
Building Research Organisation (NBRO) was established under the
Ministry of Local Government Housing and Construction in March 1984.
With the expansion of housing construction activities particularly
in the rural sector, the need for research and development into
locally available materials and technology was felt. In order to
provide this service centrally, the NBRO was formed by the merger of
the former Building Research Institute (BRI) of the State
Engineering Corporation and the Soil Testing Laboratory of the
Department of Buildings.
In 1986 UNDDP
assistance was received to upgrade the implementing capacity of the
NBRO and this continued up to the end of February 1990. In May 1988
the NBRO was brought under the Urban Development Authority (UDA), by
a Cabinet decision. The activities of the NBRO were eEnvironmental Management and Structural Engineering and Project
Management, Research and Development work on disaster mitigation
related to landslides was also planned and carried out from
198onwards. Thus Research and Development activities of the total
shelter sector were undertaken by the NBRO.
The main
fields of specialization of the NBRO are, Geotechnical Engineering,
Environmental Engineering, Building Materials, Project Management &
Structural Engineering, Computer services related to Civil
Engineering, Landslide Studies and Human Settlement Planning.
The technical
divisions of the organizations are well equipped for carrying out
testing of soils, building materials and effluent parameters for
industries. In-house computer facilities and an up-to-date technical
library are also available at the NBRO.
Since its
inception, the NBRO has provided consultancy services in different
areas of specialization for a large number of projects in various
parts of the Island.
Following
changes of functions of Ministries in 1989, the NBRO was brought
under the purview of the Ministry of Policy Planning &
Implementation and continued to function as a unit of the UDA.
In September
1993, the NBRO was designated as a separate organization under the
Institute for Construction Training and Development (ICTAD) which
has been assigned under the, then Ministry of Housing and
Construction, now called the
Ministry of Housing and
Construction Industry, Eastern Province Education and Irrigation
Development.
Back |
