This was reformed into the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment (MEXE) on 22 March 1946 under a chief superintendent (brigadier) after 5 April 1956 the commander was referred to as director and was sometimes a civilian.

[8][9][10] Shortly after the end of the Second World War the establishment developed the MEXE method as a means of quickly assessing the carrying capacity of arch bridges, particularly for military traffic.

The bridge's span, arch thickness and depth of fill were input into an equation or nomogram to determine a provisional acceptable axle loading.

This was then modified by a number of additional factors to determine a maximum permissible loading, which could be used to assess which military vehicles could use the bridge.

[15][16] Areas were divided into facets of land broadly homogeneous in morphology, water regime and surface material from a 1:50,000 scale map.

The system was implemented at a wide variety of scales from theatre and army corps (where the facets might be tens of kilometres in size) down to the battalion level.

[17] Surveillance and Target Acquisition units of the British Army used light, prefabricated MEXE modular shelters to set up secure underground hides in what was known as the stay-behind role during the Cold-War.

These MEXE shelters consisted of pickets, spacers, and arches and PVC-coated jute fabric with a wire mesh woven in as walls as well as to hold the soil used to create the roof.