Welcome to our latest series of posts on sustainability in buildings. This week we look at BREEAM.
What makes a sustainable building and how do you prove that? One way is to make use of the BREEAM certification.
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is an international certification for sustainability in buildings. The certification focuses on ten categories, Energy, Management, Health and Wellbeing, Transport, Water consumption and efficiency, Materials, Waste, Pollution, Land use and Ecology, and Innovation within the built environment. The certification assigns points to each of these ten categories, and depending on how many, and how well each point has been resolved, it certifies the building as:
Pass ≥30,
Good ≥45,
Very good ≥55,
Excellent ≥70, or
Outstanding ≥85.
As the energy grid in the UK decarbonizes, it is important to start looking into the whole life cycle of buildings, rather than just its operational emissions, and working with BREEAM can help the building industry achieve exactly that.
BREEAM also offers international accreditations for buildings outside the UK.
“Together, buildings and construction are responsible for 39% of all carbon emissions in the world. Much like COVID-19, climate change is a global challenge that affects us all. It’s agreed, we must build back better.” — BREEAM
An equivalent rating is “LEED” which we will post on next week.
If you have any questions, do reach out and we will be happy to assist!