History

The main commitment of that institute was research and development in the field of building and civil engineering, taking into account the need for the rapid reconstruction of the economy after World War II. The tasks of the institute were defined as follows:

• attestation of the technical quality of raw materials, building materials, elements and structures,
• research and testing of new materials, elements and structures,
• preparation of technical regulations and standards,
• tests and assessment of subsoil quality and foundation methods,
• study of new production methods.

On July 1st, 1952, the Building and Civil Engineering Institute was re-established by the Government as an independently financed economic entity, and renamed as the Institute for Testing and Research in Materials and Structures, Ljubljana (ZRMK Ljubljana), with the following additional tasks:

• the introduction of new technologies, and
• the organization of semi-industrial production.

On April 1st 1991 the status of ZRMK Ljubljana was changed by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to that of a public institute. On the basis of a proposal prepared by an independent commission of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and of the decree promulgated by the Government of Slovenia on April 21st, 1994, ZRMK Ljubljana was reorganized into two new legal entities:

• a public research institute named ZAG Ljubljana (Zavod za gradbenistvo Slovenije), Slovenia's National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, and
• a public institute named the Civil Engineering Institute ZRMK (Gradbeni institut ZRMK), which will be transformed into a non-governmental market-oriented enterprise.