Introduction
The Belgian Road Research Centre (BRRC) is a public utility research institute created in 1952 by application of a decree-law of 1947 aimed at promoting research in industry.
In its over fifty years of existence, it has built a solid reputation at both the national and international levels as an impartial trend-setting centre for research in the areas of road design, construction and maintenance. Moreover, it has recently extended its expertise to the fields of road safety, mobility, and environment-friendly road construction.
On this foundation, BRRC has developed an extensive package of services to assist road contracting firms, the competent national, regional and local authorities, manufacturers of materials and equipment, inspection, certification and standardization bodies, circles of education in all forms and at all levels, consultancy firms and designers, and control and testing laboratories.
History
After World War II, the Belgian Government decided to create a tool to accelerate innovation in industry. In January 1947, the Minister of National Re-equipment, De Groote, issued a decree-law for that purpose, specifying the conditions for the creation of centres entrusted with the promotion and coordination of technical progress through scientific research.
By virtue of this law, several branches of industry – wood, brewing, ceramics, cement, building, road construction, electricity, metal processing, gas, metallurgy, paint and coatings, textile, and glass – established their own research centres. These are now grouped in the Union of Collective Research Centres (UCRC).
In this context, the Belgian Road Research Centre (BRRC) was founded by royal decree on 5th May 1952, at the request of the national federation of road contractors and in agreement with the road authorities.
The Centre has retained from these origins the very peculiar status of a privately initiated public utility research institute. As such, it closely cooperates with all the actors involved in road construction and is recognized by them for its expertise and objectivity.
Objectives
The Belgian Road Research Centre helps private companies and public authorities find solutions for the design, construction and maintenance of an efficient high-quality road infrastructure under optimum economic conditions, as well as to the problems of safety, mobility and environment raised by modern road transport.
Main activities
To achieve these objectives in the most effective way, BRRC develops the following main activities:
- carrying out applied research;
- disseminating all useful information, in particular our own research results but also results obtained by others, to the road construction branch;
- offering technical, organizational and documentary assistance, and developing software;
- carrying out specific studies, tests, check-tests and expert studies;
- providing training and technology transfer at both the national and international levels;
- assisting in drawing up national and international regulations, specifications and standards, and participating in certification (in particular of quality management systems);
- helping to start up quality management systems in road construction.
Priority areas
Technical committees have been formed to enhance dialogue with the various players in the road industry. These committees gather professionals (contractors, road managers and experts) not only from BRRC, but also – and mainly – from the Belgian road community as a whole. They advise the Programme Committee on the subjects and priorities of the activities to be included in the annual programme of BRRC – not only for research, development and application, but also for assistance. They also regularly inform the Programme Committee of the progress of planned activities and make suggestions or recommendations for continuation, adjustment or suspension.
The activities listed above are performed in the following priority topic areas covered by the technical committees:
1A Mobility
Traffic flow monitoring, public-private partnership, urban freight transport, parking policy measures, etc.
1B Traffic and safety
Traffic: traffic analysis, telematics, traffic signing, weighing sensors, markings, etc.; safety: interactions between road geometry and road safety, winter serviceability, etc.
2 Environmental issues and recycling
Environmental issues: waste prevention, sustainable construction, noise annoyance abatement, air pollution, soil pollution, etc.; recycling: secondary raw materials, tar-containing asphalt waste; aggregates from crushed concrete and asphalt waste, soil stabilization, etc.
3 Concrete roads and pavings
Air-entraining agents in cement concrete; design, construction and maintenance of concrete roads; tram- and busway pavements; anticracking interlayers under asphalt overlays; porous pavings; porous lean concrete; thin and ultrathin concrete pavements; geometry of road humps, etc.
4 Asphalt roads and other bituminous applications
Asphalt roads: performance-oriented tests, characteristics and requirements for bitumen and asphalt, mix design, manufacture and laying of bituminous mixtures, structural design, asphalt recycling, types of asphalt surfacing: cold-mix asphalt, two-layer porous asphalt, high-modulus asphalt, etc.; other bituminous applications: waterproofing systems for bridge decks and roof-top car parks, etc.
5 Road asset management
Budget-constrained maintenance, road-related parameters, new developments in Europe, identification of road components, road data bases, positioning of road measurements and handling of measured data, high-yield road tests, etc. 6 Geotechnics and road bases
Performance testing of sewer inspection cameras and sewer cleaning equipment, soil treatment and recycling, quality control of earthworks and road bases, repeated load triaxial test, etc.
Human resources
BRRC has some 100 staff, about half of whom are university-level. Their widely varying specialties (civil engineers, physicists, chemists, economists, environmental engineers, traffic engineers) enable BRRC to set up multidisciplinary teams for a comprehensive approach to projects.
This multidisciplinarity is the great riches of the Centre.
Funding
Under the decree-law of 1947 and the royal decree of 1952, each Belgian or foreign accountable contractor1 is required to contribute to BRRC a 0.8 % assessment on the total costs of the works he carries out in Belgium, regardless of whether those works have been awarded by open or limited tendering or are performed under private contracts.
Another important source of income consists of funds granted by regional, federal and European authorities for scientific and technological research.
A third contribution to financing derives from the provision of services such as training courses, workshops, specific studies, tests, analyses and assistance, from the subscriptions of adherent members, from royalties, and from the sale of publications.
Addresses
Central office :
Boulevard de la Woluwe 42
B-1200 BRUSSELS (Belgium)
TEL. : (02)775 82 20 + 32 2 775 82 20 (international)
FAX : (02)772 33 74 + 32 2 772 33 74 (international)
e-mail : BRRC@BRRC.be
Laboratories :
Fokkersdreef 21
B-1933 STERREBEEK (Belgium)
TEL. : (02)766 03 00 + 32 2 766 03 00 (international)
FAX : (02)767 17 80 + 32 2 767 17 80 (international)
Avenue Lavoisier 14
B-1300 WAVRE (Belgium)
TEL. : (010)23 65 00 + 32 10 23 65 00 (international)
FAX : (010)23 65 05 + 32 10 23 65 05 (international)