Scientists in Chelmsford have helped to develop a ‘black box recorder’ for buildings that will reveal the extent of damage after natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

A team at Anglia Ruskin University has been working with colleagues from the UK, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Greece and Italy on a ‘smart monitoring system’, which measures structural movement following earthquakes, explosions and fires.

This information can be used by emergency services to determine whether the building is safe to enter, and then by planners to help them decide whether to renovate or demolish the building.

It is hoped the technology – called Reconass - will become commonplace in major structures, such as hospitals, schools and airports, in the future.

The Anglia Ruskin team, led by Professor Hassan Shirvani, designed some of the sensors for the system, as well as the packaging to protect them.

Professor Shirvani said: “In the same way that an aircraft’s black box can survive a crash, this system is being designed to withstand the most extreme conditions and continue transmitting data."