The Edinburgh Fire Research Centre (formerly the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering) is the research group at The Institute of Infrastructure and Environment,

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

conducting research in fire, structures and environment. The

has a long tradition in Fire Protection Engineering research and education and is recognized internationally for its work since the early 1970s. The Centre has a state-of-the-art experimental facility (the Rushbrook Fire Safety Laboratory) and staff whose expertise covers a wide range of subjects in Fire Safety. The Fire Research Centre is deeply involved in setting the direction for the Fire Safety Engineering practice.

History

The University of Edinburgh was the university to offer a degree in Fire Engineering, and appointed

David Rasbash David Rasbash was a pioneer in the field of Fire Safety Engineering. Rasbash was a chemical engineer who graduated from Imperial College, London, during World War II. He began publishing and teaching about the evaluation of fire safety in the 197 ...

as the first ever Professor of Fire Safety Engineering in 1974. Many of those who are now leaders in the field came to Edinburgh to study and research under the supervision of Rasbash, one of the main pioneers of the discipline, and

Dougal Drysdale Dougal Drysdale (born in Scotland, UK) is a Professor Emeritus in Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh and member of the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering. Drysdale is one of the leading international authorities in Fire ...

, author of the definitive text book on the subject. Jose Torero held the BRE/RAE Chair in Fire Safety Engineering from 2004 to 2012. Albert Simeoni held the BRE chair from 2013 to 2015. Grunde Jomaas held the BRE chair from 2016 to 2021. Teaching and research in fire safety continues at Edinburgh under the leadership of Prof Luke Bisby, professor of fire and structures.

Staff

The staff of the Edinburgh Fire Research Centre comprises six academics, several research associates, about 20-25 postgraduate researchers and some undergraduate researchers.

Teaching

The Centre supports the Structural and Fire Safety Engineering degrees (BEng, MEng and MSc) as well as a number of short courses for professionals. The centre is part of the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering consortium. The joint degree started in September 2010 and involves the universities of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

(UK),

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

(Belgium) and

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

(Sweden).New International Master in Fire Safety Engineering approved by Erasmus Mundus (accessed 31 July 09)
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Research Expertise

* Structural Fire Engineering * Fire Modelling * Ignition and burning of solid fuels * Large-scale fire experiments * Concrete, Steel and wood response to fire * Tunnel fires * Subsurface fires * Wildfires * Smouldering combustion

Large-scale fire test

The

Cardington test The Cardington Fire Tests were a series of large-scale fire tests conducted in real structures (wood, steel-concrete composite ,and concrete) at the BRE Cardington facility near Cardington, Bedfordshire, England England is a country that i ...

s were a series of large-scale fire tests conducted in over several years from the early 1990s in a real steel-framed structure at the former airship hangar at Cardington, UK. The

Dalmarnock tests The Dalmarnock fire tests are a series of fire experiments that were conducted in a real high-rise building in the United Kingdom. In 2006, the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, conducted this series of large ...

were a series of fire experiments conducted in July 2006 in a real 1960s concrete tower block in Dalmarnock,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, UK.

Publications

The Centre publishes more than 100 conference papers and a dozen peer-reviewed journal papers per year. Some can be publicly accessed vi
their Digital Repository

References

External links

The Edinburgh Fire Research Centre
official website
Several publications from The Edinburgh Fire Research Centre

'Skyscraper Fire Fighters' BBC Horizon">'Skyscraper Fire Fighters' BBC Horizon
TV show (aired on Tuesday 24th, 9pm in BBC Two)">BBC Horizon
TV show (aired on Tuesday 24th, 9pm in BBC Two">BBC Horizon">'Skyscraper Fire Fighters' BBC Horizon
TV show (aired on Tuesday 24th, 9pm in BBC Two) {{DEFAULTSORT:Edinburgh Fire Research Centre Fire and rescue in Scotland Fire protection organizations Research institutes in Edinburgh University of Edinburgh