The beginnings of today’s Department of Heating, Ventilation and Dust Removal Technology date back to 1945, when at Faculty of Engineering and Building Construction, the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage, Heating and Ventilation was established, headed by prof. dr inż. Eliasz Zielski came to Gliwice from Lviv. Prof. Eliasz Zielski was the first doctor of technical sciences in the field of heating and ventilation in Poland. The first location of the Department was an apartment on the ground floor at 6 Częstochowska Street. After the construction of the building of today’s Faculty of Civil Engineering, the Department moved there and was located there until the mid-1990s.

As early as 1946, the Department split into two units – the Department of Water and Sewage Construction (leaded by prof. Eugeniusz Zaczyński) and the Department of Sanitary Technology, which was headed by prof. Eliasz Zielski until his death in March 1953. He was succeeded by prof. Tadeusz Chlipalski. In 1953, the Department of Sanitary Engineering was established at the Faculty of Engineering and Building Construction, which already had four departments, including the Department of Sanitary Technology. On April 6, 1955, by order of the Minister of Higher Education, a separate Faculty of Sanitary Engineering was established, which consisted of 10 departments – one of which was the Department of Heating and Ventilation (Prof. Chlipalski remained the head).

The March events of 1968 led to organizational changes in higher education. In 1969, the existing 10 departments of the Faculty were merged into three, including Department of Heating and Atmosphere Protection (head was prof. Jerzy Zieliński, Ph.D., while prof. Chlipalski became the dean of the Faculty). Two years later, in 1971, another reorganization was carried out, combining departments into one large Institute of Environmental Protection Engineering, and our Department was transformed into the Department of Heating, Ventilation and Atmospheric Protection. The department was headed by prof. Stanisław Mierzwiński, PhD.

In 1981, another reorganization took place – in place of the Institute of Environmental Protection Engineering, two with significantly different scientific roots were established – the Institute of Water, Sewage and Waste Engineering and Technology and the Institute of Heating, Ventilation and Air Protection under the supervision of prof. Mierzwiński. In 1984, the name of the Faculty was changed – to the Faculty of Environmental Engineering (the first under this name in Poland), which more closely corresponded to the scope of research and teaching activities of both institutes.

The political changes in Poland that took place after 1989 also resulted in changes in the organizational structure of the Faculty – in 1991 three units were established – including the Department of Heating, Ventilation and Dust Removal Technology (the name is valid until today), headed by prof. Mierzwiński. In 1993, two faculties – the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and the Faculty of Power Engineering, merged into the strongest Faculty of Environmental and Power Engineering at our University. One of the eight units that make up the structure of the new faculty is our Department.

In 1994, after more than 20 years of managing the unit by prof. Mierzwiński, the new head of the Department was prof. Zbigniew Popiołek, PhD. In 2013, the duties of the head of the Department were taken over by dr Zbigniew Trzeciakiewicz, PhD, and in 2015 by dr. Jan Kaczmarczyk, PhD.