Slovenia's national construction institute — materials testing, infrastructure monitoring, fire safety, and circular building solutions across 22 EU projects.
ZAG Ljubljana is Slovenia's national building and civil engineering institute, specializing in construction materials testing, structural safety assessment, and built environment performance. They evaluate and develop sustainable construction materials — from concrete durability and glass façades to circular economy approaches using industrial waste in building products. Their work spans infrastructure integrity monitoring (railways, bridges, tunnels), fire safety in buildings, and energy-efficient building envelope systems. They also contribute expertise in nuclear civil engineering structures and radioactive waste disposal safety assessment.
Core contributor across DESTinationRAIL, FOX, RAGTIME, Assets4Rail, and three third-party roles in REFINET, ECOROADS, and AM4INFRA — covering bridges, tunnels, tracks, and safety systems.
Coordinated CINDERELA on circular economy in urban construction; participated in EnDurCrete (durable concrete), WOOL2LOOP (mineral wool waste recycling), PAPERCHAIN (paper industry waste reuse), and InnoWEE (waste-based prefabricated components).
Contributed to POCITYF (positive energy districts), MEZeroE (near-zero energy building envelopes), Q-Air (glass façade systems), and InnoWEE (energy-reducing prefab components).
Coordinates FRISSBE (2021-2026), their largest project at EUR 2.5M, focused on fire-safe sustainable built environment — signaling a major new research direction.
Long-term involvement in InnoRenew CoE (both phases, 2015-2023), a Slovenian centre of excellence for renewable materials, building systems, and indoor environment quality.
Participated in ACES (nuclear civil engineering ageing), EURAD (radioactive waste geological disposal), and GEOLAB (critical infrastructure geotechnical engineering).
In the early period (2015-2018), ZAG focused heavily on transport infrastructure — road and rail asset management, infrastructure lifecycle analysis, and multi-modal transport safety. Their construction materials work was already present but centered on renewable and prefabricated building components. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward circular economy in construction (coordinating CINDERELA, joining WOOL2LOOP), nuclear structural safety, positive energy buildings, and fire safety research. The launch of FRISSBE as coordinator in 2021 — their largest single project — marks a clear pivot toward fire safety in sustainable buildings as a flagship theme.
ZAG is moving from infrastructure monitoring toward leading research on fire safety and circularity in buildings — a strong position as EU construction regulations tighten on both sustainability and safety fronts.
ZAG operates predominantly as a contributing partner (15 of 22 projects), bringing specialized testing and materials expertise to large consortia. They coordinate selectively — only two projects — but when they do, the budgets are significant (CINDERELA at EUR 1M, FRISSBE at EUR 2.5M), suggesting they lead when the topic aligns closely with their core mandate. With 357 unique partners across 34 countries, they are a well-connected hub in the European construction research network, comfortable working in large multi-national consortia rather than small bilateral collaborations.
ZAG has collaborated with 357 unique partners across 34 countries, giving them one of the broadest networks in the Slovenian research landscape. Their partnerships span Western and Central Europe heavily, with strong connections in transport and construction research communities.
ZAG is a rare combination: a national building institute with deep materials testing capabilities AND active involvement in both infrastructure monitoring and energy-efficient construction research. Unlike university labs that focus on theory, ZAG brings standardized testing, certification know-how, and regulatory knowledge — critical for any consortium that needs to validate construction products or demonstrate compliance. Their dual expertise in circular construction materials and fire safety positions them uniquely as EU policy increasingly demands both sustainability and safety in the built environment.
