Chairman Sir Neville Simms reported that the financial performance of the BRE Trust’s subsidiary trading companies – BRE, BRE Certification and FBE Management – which provide the resources for its charitable activities, was one of the best so far with a combined net profit of £1.77 million on a £40 million turnover.

The Trust provided £893,000 (excluding management and administration costs) for research activities in 2006/7, and now supports 43 active research projects including 17 that have been newly commissioned and eight new PhD studentships that were awarded during the year.

Directors for the four research Centres of Excellence set up with Trust support at the universities of Bath, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Strathclyde (under the BRE-Universities Partnership) are now in place, and the Trust is providing funding for the university chairs held by each Director.

For the second year in succession the Trust supported pupils from Parmiter’s school (near BRE’s headquarters in Watford) taking part in the Royal Academy of Engineering sponsored Engineering Education Scheme. In a project to apply biomimetics in the construction industry, the pupils produced and tested new wall panels with impact and shock absorbing properties based on those of a coconut’s inner layers, and gained a gold award from the British Association for the Advancement of Science CREST scheme. The Trust plans to expand this support so that other schools can participate.

The NHBC Foundation, set up in association with the Trust to facilitate research and development, technology and knowledge sharing in all matters connected with housing, began its work by formulating and commissioning a number of projects. The first two publications resulting from the outputs of this programme were published during the year.