The Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) is a research Institute under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. It is based in

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

in the

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

of Ghana. BRRI is a research institute.

History

The institute was established in 1952 and was known as the West African Building Research Institute in Accra. It was made up of building engineers from Ghana and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. The institute had a name change in 1960 when the institute's members from Nigeria left to form the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute. This was because Nigeria had gained independence from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. It became known as the Building Research Institute of the

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is a learned society for the arts and sciences based in Accra, Ghana. The institution was founded in November 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah with the aim to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination ...

. The institute relocated to the campus of the

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is a public University of Ghana that focuses on science and technology. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is the public university established in the country, as well a ...

in 1963. This was to allow the institute's members to lecture at the university due to university under-staffing.

Professional bodies of the institute

The institute is made up of various professional groupings. They include architects, engineers, planners, quantity surveyors.

Mandate and name change

In 1964 the government of Ghana expanded the functions of the institution to include road research. The name of the institution was changed to include the new function to the Building and Road Research Institute.

Relocation

In 1995, the institute moved from the KNUST campus to it present site at Fumesua in

. The new site which is about 20 kilometres from the institute's former location is called the Kumasi Science City. It houses research institutions in Kumasi. The other institutions include the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) and the Crops Research Institute (CRI).

Aim of the institute

The institute was established as a research and development organisation in the construction industry with the purposes of offering research and development products and services to the building and road sectors for the development of Ghana.

Researches

The institute works on developing alternative building materials that last longer and cost cheaper for the Ghanaian building industry.

Pozzolana Cement

The institute in the 1990s begun researching into

Pozzolana Pozzolana or pozzuolana ( , ), also known as pozzolanic ash ( la, pulvis puteolanus), is a natural siliceous or siliceous- aluminous material which reacts with calcium hydroxide in the presence of water at room temperature (cf. pozzolanic reacti ...

cement, an alternative

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

to the

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th ...

for building. Pozzolana cement cost less than Portland cement. In May, 2007, BRRI and PMC Global Incorporated of America signed a contract for the commercial production of Pozzolana. The agreement included PMC offering 150,000

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...

to BRRI for expansion of the pilot plant for the production of the pozzolana at the institute and land acquisition for the building of a plant by PMC for the production process.

Collaborations

BRRI has research collaboration with other state and foreign agencies. In 2007, BRRI and the Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL) of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

worked together on a program of national studies in Ghana for two years. The purpose of the collaboration was to research into developing building materials that would benefit both bodies. In 2009, the institutes and its Nigerian counterpart (NBRRI) signed a memorandum of understanding to research into building and road construction materials.

References

External links

BRRI Homepage
{{authority control Research institutes established in 1952 Ministries and Agencies of State of Ghana Building research