History
Fire protection – a tradition in Freiberg for more than 80 years
The commitment to fire safety in the mining town of Freiberg has a tradition of more than 80 years. MPA Dresden GmbH emerged in 1991 from what was originally the Institut für Bergbausicherheit (Institute for Mining Safety). The predecessor of the Institute was founded in 1928 as an Associate Institute of the Freiberg Mining Academy. From this arose the Civil Engineering Materials Testing Institute of the Free State of Saxony. This intermediate authority became the Landesbetrieb Materialprüfungsanstalt Dresden whose shortform – MPA Dresden – persists in our name to this day.
Today, as a private company, we offer material testing, expert assessment, inspection and certification services. As a test, monitoring and certification centre as well as an engineering consultancy we are active in construction project related, organisational and supervisory fire protection. MPA Dresden is the only German test and authorisation centre for fire extinguishing equipment and media.
Since its privatisation in 2004 the company has developed into a modern service provider in the field of material testing. One of our core areas is the testing of construction products. In January 2007 the Dresden subsidiary with its classic construction material testing was demerged into an independent entity. MPA Dresden GmbH with its HQ in Freiberg / Sachsen has established itself as a fire safety specialist and is active globally as a centre of expertise for fire protection.
Growing number of employees for growing demands
As the Freiberg location was demerged in 2007 as a centre of expertise for fire protection, there were eight employees at MPA. Within six years the employee head count had risen from 8 to 29. In 2018 there are 38 people employed at MPA Dresden GmbH and eight at MPA Dresden Verwaltungs GmbH.
Comprehensive investment since the privatisation
2005: Erection of a new laboratory building with climate room and an office floor.
2007: A building used until 1991 as a fire laboratory was modernised and equipped with new technology. A multifunction test facility, unique in Europe, emerged for the verification of fire behaviour. The development was carried out by the company itself supported by research funds from the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF).
2008: Construction of a further laboratory building. This enabled the working conditions of the only German test and authorisation centre for fire extinguishing equipment and media to be considerably improved.
2010: Construction of an administration and office building with social wing.
2012: Construction of a heptane storage facility.
2013: With the building of a new test hall, improved conditions for customers and employees were created for testing the fire behaviour of roofs and solar modules. Fire tests are now performed there on approx. 300 m² to verify the fire behaviour of roofs (rigid roofing) in accordance with ENV 1187 and also of solar modules in accordance with UL790.
2014: At the beginning of October the extension to an office building was completed as planned. This resulted in additional desk jobs, a new laboratory room for chemical and physical examinations in the area of fire extinguishing equipment and fire extinguishing media as well as larger, modern washroom facilities. The employees can now take their breaks on a sunny roof terrace.
2015: Our new goods delivery hall is small but perfectly formed. With this modern and clearly designed space the quality of the sample management is considerably improved.
2017: Construction of a facade test facility.