Buildwise

Buildwise is there for you

Buildwise is on a mission to perform scientific and technical research for the benefit of its members; to supply technical information, assistance and consultancy to its members; to contribute in general to innovation and development in the construction sector in particular by performing contract research upon request of the industry and the authorities.

Important notice

Many Buildwise publications are only available in French and Flemish (Dutch) - you will only find Norms on our website in English. Norms are only accessible to registered entrepreneurs members. If you don't have an online account yet, please create your online account.

You can find the majority of publications in English here.

We recommend you visit our other language pages for more publications: 

Buildwise publications & services

Who are we?

Buildwise (previously BBRI) is a private research institute founded in 1959 under impulse of the National Federation of Belgian Building Contractors in application of the so-called "De Groote" decree-law of 1947.


This decree-law named after the former Minister of Economic Affairs was specifically aimed at the promotion of applied research in the construction industry, in order to improve its competitiveness.


In application of this decree-law, the statutory members of the Buildwise are the more than 90,000 Belgian construction companies (general contractors, carpenters, glaziers, plumbers, roofers, floorers, plasterers, painters, etc..), mostly SMEs.

According to its statutes, the Buildwise has the following three main tasks:

  • to perform scientific and technical research for the benefit of its members
  • to supply technical information, assistance and advice to its members
  • to contribute to the general innovation and development in the construction sector, more specifically by performing contractual research upon the request of the industry and the authorities.

To fulfil these tasks, the Buildwise pools on the expertise of more than 200 highly skilled and motivated staff members coming from various educational backgrounds, working in multidisciplinary teams depending on the treated subject.

Annual report 2023: Discover our activities

More than half the Buildwise’s income comes from the fees of its member construction companies. The balance takes the form of subsidies from regional, federal and European authorities (research projects), as well as of development contracts with public and private institutions or companies.
More details and figures can be found in our Annual Report.

Annual Report 2023

Do you have questions?

Give us a call or send us an e-mail.