About us

Testing – Classification – Monitoring – Assessment – Certification

The Braunschweig Civil Engineering Materials Testing Institute (MPA) was founded as an independent state institution in 1962. It is supervised by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Employment and Transport for carrying out the following tasks:

  • Implementation of mechanical, chemical, physical and electrical tests of construction materials, basic materials and structures for quality assessment, strength research or for the prevention of damage to property or personal injuries
  • Testing and monitoring of industrial and other products for their conformance with technical requirements or specifications in legal or administrative regulations, standards, delivery terms, quality requirements or agreements
  • Consultancy and information for the promotion of industry
  • Tests and evaluations for compliance with building authority requirements or other expert requirements
  • Approval tests of new construction materials and construction methods
  • Development and improvement of test procedures, machines and new technologies
  • Collaboration in the creation of standards and directives at national and international level

The MPA Braunschweig offers a broad range of services and coherent concepts, from expert solutions for simple tasks to the clarification of complex issues.

Fire protection, structural integrity and sealing of structures have developed into key activities.

The MPA Braunschweig is recognised as a testing, monitoring and certification body on the basis of the German State Building Codes and is also notified as a testing laboratory (system 3) and a certification body (systems 1+, 1 and 2+) in accordance with the German Construction Products Act (BauPG) and/or in accordance with the EU Construction Products Regulation.
It also hold accreditations as a testing laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025) and a certification body (ISO/IEC 17065).

Facts and figures

The MPA Braunschweig is a state institution, supervised by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Employment and Transport.

Employees

The MPA Braunschweig currently has approximate 115 employees, around one quarter of them are women. Together with the iBMB, the MPA Braunschweig invests in the training of qualified junior staff. For several decades, apprenticeships in three professions have been provided on a continuous basis.

Test equipment

A total of approximate 300 test devices are available for the comprehensive testing business. With premises of about 30,000 m² and a floor area of 16,000 m², MPA Braunschweig has become one of Germany’s largest testing facilities of this kind in the past 50 years.

Location

The MPA Braunschweig shares its location with the Institute for Building Materials, Concrete Construction & Fire Protection of Technische Universität Braunschweig, in the middle of the eastern campus of TU Braunschweig.

Since moving to this location in 1963, the premises have grown to their current size of approx. 27,000 m². Today, the nine halls provide an available area of approx. 15,000 m² in total, in which both the test equipment as well as office space are located.

History of the MPA Braunschweig

Tradition – Quality – Competence

  • 1922 Foundation of a construction product laboratory in the Civil Engineering Department of Technische Hochschule Braunschweig
  • 1930's Foundation of an Institute for Construction Material Science in the Department of Architecture in the mid-1930's
  • 1949 Foundation of the Lower Saxony State Materials Testing Institute (NMPA)
  • 1959 Appointment of Prof. Karl Kordina as director
  • 1961 Start of the new construction in Beethovenstraße
  • 1963 Conversion of the NMPA into the Centre for Official Material Testing in Lower Saxony (ZAMP)
  • 1963 Renaming of the Institute to "Institute for Construction Material Science and Reinforced Concrete Construction" and creation of an independent "Official Civil Engineering Materials Testing Institute"
  • 1965 Commencement of operations at the new location in Beethovenstraße
  • 1968 Appointment of Prof. Gallus Rehm as director
  • 1972 Start of the establishment of the special research area "Fire behaviour of structural members"
  • 1976 Appointment of Prof. Ferdinand Rostásy as director
  • 1987 Appointment of Prof. Horst Falkner as one of two directors
  • 1993 Commissioning of the flue gas cleaning plant
  • 1995 First accreditation on the basis of DIN EN 45001
  • 1996 Building authority approval as a testing, monitoring and certification body in accordance with the State Building Code
  • 1998 Appointment of Prof. Harald Budelmann as one of two directors
  • 1999 Conversion of the Official Materials Testing Institute into the Civil Engineering Materials Testing Institute (MPA)
  • 1999 Cooperation agreement between MPA Braunschweig and TU Braunschweig
  • 2002 Reorganisation of material testing in Lower Saxony, reduction of the MPAs from 5 to 3, allocation of state funding to be reduced to zero by 2006
  • 2003 Recognition in accordance with the German Construction Products Act (BauPG) as a testing, monitoring and certification body with subsequent notification in accordance with the Construction Products Directive in Brussels
  • 2006 Appointment of Prof. Martin Empelmann
  • 2010 Appointment of Prof. Bohumil Kasal
  • 2013 Appointment of Prof. Jochen Zehfuß
  • 2017 Appointment of Prof. Dirk Lowke