company limited by guarantee industry automotive headquarters wokingham berkshire united kingdom area served worldwide key people rob wallis chief executive 1 products various transport related items including software legform impactors safety certification rigs services research consultancy testing certification training software development owner transport research foundation number of employees approx . 320 2 website http www.trl.co.uk trl limited trading as the transport research laboratory is a fully independent private company offering a transport consultancy and research service to the public and private sector . originally established in 1933 by the uk government as the road research laboratory rrl it was privatised in 1996 . 3 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 corporate affairs 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit trl was originally established in 1933 by the uk government as the road research laboratory rrl under the department of scientific and industrial research and later became the transport and road research laboratory trrl . during the second world war the laboratory contributed to the war effort . among its contributions under william glanville were research that aided the development of plastic armour the bouncing bomb and the disney bomb . in the 1970s the trrl moved from the department of trade and industry to the department of the environment . 4 at the trrl frank blackmore developed the mini roundabout which was adopted in 1975 . it became an executive agency of the uk department for transport in 1992 and changed its name to transport research laboratory trl . it was privatised in 1996 though plans were criticized at the time . 5 operations edit trl is based in crowthorne berkshire with additional offices in scotland and wales . trl s key areas of work include road network and vehicle safety ; traffic management ; planning and control ; investigations and risk management ; transport infrastructure ; and environmental assessment including work on climate change noise and air pollution . the extensive crowthorne site has been substantially scaled back with many of the original buildings disused creating an opportunity for redevelopment . in 2012 bracknell council has identified the original site as a strategic area suitable for a new mini town of 1 000 homes . 6 corporate affairs edit to maintain its commercial independence and impartiality trl is owned by the transport research foundation a non profit distributing foundation overseen by 80 sector members from the transport industry . 7 trl s profits are invested in its own research programmes selected by the trf to enhance knowledge in critical areas such as safety environmental impact and sustainable development . see also edit united kingdom driving test zebra crossing split cycle offset optimisation technique william glanville bouncing bomb references edit new ceo for trl . trl limited . retrieved 21 august 2014 . our business . trl limited . retrieved 10 july 2012 . about trl http www.trl.co.uk about trl department code at commons select committee slams trl privatisation plans . contract journal . 1994 03 24 . retrieved 2010 05 02 . plans to privatise the transport research laboratory have been criticised by the commons transport select committee . the mps said they could not recommend privatisation of the trl until there was much more convincing evidence that the laboratory s independence and expertise will not thereby be sacrificed . crowthorne village action group . retrieved 18 august 2013 . the trf is classed as a non profit distributing organisation a form of business structure where all profits are reinvested in services or business growth rather than being distributed to shareholders . external links edit trl official website trl software website transport links website . contains many developing country rrl trrl trl documents manuals for free download history of trl coordinates 51 22 54 n 0 46 56 w 51.3818 n 0.7823 w 51.3818 ; 0.7823 v t e department for transport of the united kingdom great minster house 33 horseferry road london sw1p 4dr ministers secretary of state for transport minister of state for transport 2 parliamentary under secretaries of state executive agencies driver and vehicle licensing agency driver and vehicle standards agency maritime and coastguard agency vehicle certification agency non departmental public bodies british transport police authority commissioners of irish lights northern lighthouse board transport focus trinity house lighthouse service other air accidents investigation branch airports commission highways england marine accident investigation branch rail accident investigation branch category v t e automotive industry in the united kingdom manufacturing in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom companies and marques commercial vehicle producers current alexander dennis plaxton dennis eagle ibc vehicles jcb leyland trucks the london taxi company optare smith electric vehicles stevens wrightbus former albion aec bedford bristol clough smith commer daimler erf foden ford southampton plant guy jensen karrier ldv modec scammell seddon atkinson sentinel shelvoke and drewry straker squire thornycroft tilling stevens motorsport advanced engine research arena motorsport carlin chevron cars cosworth dowdeswell and hardie engine developments ltd. force india ford world rally team fortec hewland ilmor lola cars manor racing marussia f1 mclaren mercedes amg high performance powertrains mercedes amg m sport munchi s prodrive radical red bull racing renault sport f1 team ricardo rml group roger dowson engineering sumo power team dynamics triple eight van diemen williams f1 wirth xtrac zytek motorsport passenger car producers current ariel ascari aston martin bentley crewe plant bmw group mini plant oxford plant swindon rolls royce goodwood plant briggs bristol caparo caterham electric car corporation fenix ford of britain bridgend engine 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manufacturers and traders top gear category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title transport research laboratory & oldid 740956004 categories 1933 establishments in the united kingdomcompanies based in berkshireengineering research instituteslaboratories in the united kingdomorganizations established in 1933privatised executive agencies of the united kingdom governmentresearch institutes in berkshiretransport in the united kingdomwokinghamtransport researchhidden categories coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a 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