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BSRIA (it takes its name from the initial letters of the Building Services Research and Information Association) is a UK-based testing, instrumentation, research and consultancy organisation, providing specialist services in construction and building services engineering. It is a not-for-profit, member-based association, with over 650 member companies; related services are delivered by a trading company, BSRIA Limited. Any profits made are invested in its research programme, producing best practice guidance.
BSRIA is a full member of the Construction Industry Council.
BSRIA had a turnover of £11.8 million in 2010/11. [1] It employs over 180 people at its UK head office in Bracknell as well as regionally based engineers in the UK and offices in France, Spain, Germany, China, Japan, Brazil and North America.
BSRIA's mission is [2]
"to enable the building services and construction industries and their clients to enhance the value of the built environment, by improving the quality of their products and services, the efficiency of their provision and the effectiveness of their operation."
BSRIA was formed in 1955 as the Heating and Ventilating Research Council, later to become the Heating and Ventilating Research Association. As the industry became increasingly linked with other services so its research association and professional body saw the need to widen their remit. In 1975 the 'building services' scope was adopted, marked by the formation of the Building Services Research and Information Association, commonly shortened to BSRIA, and, in 1976, the formation of the Chartered Institution of Building Services, renamed the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) in 1985.
As the Association's activities developed to meet the needs of an integrated construction industry and to provide more than just research and information, the full name became less relevant. When new government rules required it to split research and other activities into two companies, BSRIA started formal use of the abbreviation.
Trading activities, including research, are now managed through a trading company, BSRIA Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Building Services Research and Information Association, which is a company limited by guarantee. Thus, members – largely companies active in designing and delivering building services – join the Building Services Research and Information Association, and services are provided by BSRIA Limited.
The following companies were the founding members of BSRIA who remain as members now (original company names updated to current):
BSRIA now has over 600 corporate members.
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