Our History

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The Building Test Centre is a UKAS accredited test facility.

Catering for the needs of the construction industry, we provide a wide range of Acoustic, Fire, Reaction to Fire, Structural and Physical Testing.

The origins of the Building Test Centre date back to 1967 where it was created to meet the challenges posed by newer, lightweight construction techniques. Ever since then, our continued investment in our facilities and state of the art equipment is only outweighed by our investment in people. Highly skilled and competent, our people are equipped to provide the most comprehensive testing service for our customers regarding building products and systems.

As such, The Building Test Centre is one of the most respected test facilities in Europe with a range of facilities not matched anywhere else within the UK, all hosted on one site.

The laboratory was the first acoustics laboratory to achieve UKAS accreditation in 1983, and to this day still leads the way in building acoustics excellence with our purpose-built labs and industry leading test analysers.

Our structural test offering started in the early 1970s, however our current facility built in 1987 boasts a test rig that can accommodate testing on specimens over 14m high. The structural test facility is genuinely unique with no comparable facility available within the UK and the only UKAS accredited facility able to fully test systems in accordance with BS 5234: Part 2.

The present fire resistance laboratory at the Building Test Centre was commissioned in 1980 and had its first accreditation in 1983, which has been maintained ever since. At the time, the most sophisticated furnace in the UK, it has conducted many thousands of full-scale tests providing fire safety confidence for our customers.

In 2023, a multi-million-pound upgrade to this facility will provide the industry with 2 brand-new cutting-edge furnaces, capable of a huge range of test types demanded by our customers, and to help meet the increased demand in the UK for full scale fire testing.

Over many decades we have built up the knowledge, the know-how and the experience to meet all your construction product testing needs. We have a demonstrated history of providing testing excellence and are always looking to find ways to continuously improve.

So why not contact us today to see how we can work together to give your customers the confidence and assurances for the products and systems you sell.


Get a quote today!

We’ll put together a customised quote about your project and work with you to get started on your project. Let’s build something together!