The teaching of building services disciplines at the former Czech Technical University in Brno, Faculty of Civil Engineering, dates back to 1935. Within the teaching of civil engineering, the teaching of installation and heating professions was provided by the honoured Ing. Alexander Grimm, who from 1946 as a habilitated associate professor of heating and air-conditioning provided lectures in all HVAC professions.
In 1956, the Brno University of Technology (BUT) was founded. The Department of HVAC and Building Production is established at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering. At that time, in the field of HVAC, Ing. Arch. Václav Sládek, Ing. Miroslav Mičánek and from 1959 Ing. Jaroslav Fiala. Since 1960, the Department of HVAC and Building Production became the Department of Building Production (VS) and the field of HVAC became a “workplace”. 10 years later, the Department of Civil Engineering was transferred to the Department of Civil Engineering Construction, where it remained until the establishment of an independent Department of Civil Engineering.
The credit for the gradual expansion and deepening of teaching of all disciplines of civil engineering goes to the team of associates consisting of Assoc. Ing. Zdeněk Kobza, Ing. Jiří Cihlář and Ing. Jaroslav Fiala. They developed university scripts and a number of teaching aids for lectures, seminars and exercises, which were also used at the sister departments of HVAC in Prague and Bratislava. The level of knowledge that the students could acquire during their studies was significantly increasing in quality and quantity, and this was demonstrated by their interest in defending their diploma theses in the professions of health technology, heating and air conditioning.
A separate Department of Building Services was established in 1981. The first head of the newly established department became Assoc. Ing. Jiří Cihlář, CSc. habilitated for the field of technical equipment of buildings. The main activity of the department became scientific activity, focused on the issue of primary energy savings in the implementation and operation of buildings, on the innovation of HVAC systems, etc. In the field of pedagogical activities, the department focused on current topics related to the creation of internal microclimate of buildings by HVAC systems with the aim of optimizing energy needs. Under the leadership of doc. Ing. J. Cihlář, CSc. the teaching was provided by a team of active teachers consisting of doc. Ing. Kobza, Ing. J. Fiala, CSc., Ing. G. Gebauer, Ing. D. Wicherková and Ing. J. Hirš.
From 1997 to 1999, Ing. Karel Čupr, CSc., who held the position of Vice-Dean from 2000 to 2002. Since March 2000, the positioned of the head of the Institute of Civil Engineering has been held by Assoc. Ing. Jiří Hirš, CSc. During his tenure, the working team was significantly rejuvenated and expanded.
With the development of computer technology and instrumentation of the institute, the scientific activity has deepened to the level of complex theoretical and experimental analysis. The output of this approach is mainly energy diagnostics monitoring the current state and formation of the internal microclimate of buildings, their energy performance, forecasting of thermal conditions, energy savings and energy audits. The Institute also focuses on mathematical modelling and fluid flow issues, in which it has achieved significant results internationally.