The Official Laboratory for Testing of Construction Materials (LOEMCO) was created by means of the Ministerial Order of December 24, 1980 (BOE 1.01.1981) within the framework of the surveillance policy and compliance with the regulatory requirements of industrial products. In the so-called "Quality Culture", LOEMCO has been a key player in the construction materials sector for the past 25 years.

This laboratory, created at the joint proposal of the Ministries of Industry and Energy and Education and Science, is integrated into the Polytechnic University of Madrid attached to the Higher Technical School of Mining and Energy Engineers with a determined vocation of service to the industry and of support for university teaching.

LOEMCO is currently located in the modern facilities of the Mining Technology Center that UPM has in its TecnoGetafe campus.

 

 

The functions of LOEMCO established in its organic regulations, approved by the aforementioned Ministerial Order can be grouped as follows:

• Testing of construction materials, acting as a verification laboratory in the application of Regulations of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, in the application of the European Regulation of Construction Products for the CE marking and in voluntary certifications for quality brands of various products.
• Studies, technical reports and research on the characteristics and quality of both construction materials and their raw materials. Additionally, work is also carried out on technologies of the manufacturing processes of said materials that are entrusted to it by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, by the Polytechnic University of Madrid and by the industrialists of the sector, or their professional groups.
• Teaching and research work entrusted to it by the Polytechnic University of Madrid, through the Higher Technical School of Mining Engineers to fulfill its training commitments.

Since its creation, LOEMCO has been a pioneer as a verifying laboratory for different products with AENOR N quality mark (since 1988) and as an ENAC accreditation laboratory in the tests for these products (since 1989).

The E.T.S.I. Mines and Energy manages LOEMCO through the Gómez Pardo Foundation as a more agile and efficient way of managing a laboratory of these characteristics due to its status as a private non-profit organization.