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BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, [1] is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of buildings. More than 550,000 buildings have been 'BREEAM-certified' and over two million are registered for certification in more than 50 countries worldwide. BREEAM also has a tool which focuses on neighbourhood development. [2]
BREEAM is an assessment undertaken by independent licensed assessors using scientifically-based sustainability metrics and indices which cover a range of environmental issues. Its categories evaluate energy and water use, health and wellbeing, pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology and management processes. [3] Buildings are rated and certified on a scale of 'Pass', 'Good', 'Very Good', 'Excellent' and 'Outstanding'. [1]
It works to raise awareness amongst owners, occupiers and designers of the benefits of taking a sustainable approach, providing a framework to help them to successfully adopt sustainable solutions in a cost-effective manner, and provides market recognition of their achievements. It aims to reduce the negative effects of construction and development on the environment. [4]
Work on creating BREEAM began at the Building Research Establishment (based in Watford, England) in 1988. The first version for assessing new office buildings was launched in 1990. This was followed by versions for other buildings including superstores, industrial units and existing offices.
In 1998, there was a major revamp of the BREEAM Offices standard, and the scheme's layout, with features such as weighting for different sustainability issues, was established. The development of BREEAM then accelerated with annual updates and variations for other building types such as retail premises being introduced.
A version of BREEAM for new homes called EcoHomes was launched in 2000. This scheme was later used as the basis of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which was developed by BRE for the UK Government in 2006/7 and replaced Eco Homes in England and Wales. In 2014, the Government in England signalled the winding down the Code for Sustainable Homes. Since then BRE has developed the Home Quality Mark, which is part of the BREEAM family of schemes.
An extensive update of all BREEAM schemes in 2008 resulted in the introduction of mandatory post-construction reviews, minimum standards and innovation credits. International versions of BREEAM were also launched that year.
Another major update in 2011 resulted in the launch of BREEAM New Construction, which is now used to assess and certify all new UK buildings. This revision included the reclassification and consolidation of issues and criteria to further streamline the BREEAM process. In 2012, a scheme for domestic refurbishment was introduced in the UK, followed by a non-domestic version in 2014 that was expanded to an international scope the following year. [5]
In 2015, the Building Research Establishment announced the acquisition of CEEQUAL following a recommendation from their board, with the aim of creating a single sustainability rating scheme for civil engineering and infrastructure projects. [6]
The 2018 update of BREEAM UK New Construction was launched in March 2018 at Ecobuild.
The BREEAM UK New Construction V6 was released on 24 August 2022 following the updates to building regulations in England that came into force on 15 June 2022 and V6.1 (to incorporate changes to the building regulations for energy performance in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) on 14 June 2023.
BREEAM has expanded from its original focus on individual new buildings at the construction stage to encompass the whole life cycle of buildings from planning to in-use and refurbishment. Its regular revisions and updates are driven by the ongoing need to improve sustainability, respond to feedback from industry and support the UK's sustainability strategies and commitments.
Highly flexible, the BREEAM standard can be applied to virtually any building and location, with versions for new buildings, existing buildings, refurbishment projects and large developments:
BREEAM New Construction is the BREEAM standard against which the sustainability of new, non-residential buildings in the UK is assessed. Developers and their project teams use the scheme at key stages in the design and procurement process to measure, evaluate, improve and reflect the performance of their buildings.
BREEAM International New Construction is the BREEAM standard for assessing the sustainability of new residential and non-residential buildings in countries around the world, except for the UK and other countries with a national BREEAM scheme (see below). This scheme makes use of assessment criteria that take account of the circumstances, priorities, codes and standards of the country or region in which the development is located.
BREEAM In-Use is a scheme to help building managers reduce the running costs and improve the environmental performance of existing buildings. It has two parts: building asset and building management. Both parts are relevant to all non-domestic, commercial, industrial, retail and institutional buildings. [7] BREEAM In-Use is widely used by members of the International Sustainability Alliance (ISA), which provides a platform for certification against the scheme. The newest version v6, available from 2020 includes also Residential programs.
BREEAM Refurbishment provides a design and assessment method for sustainable housing refurbishment projects, helping to cost-effectively improve the sustainability and environmental performance of existing dwellings in a robust way. A scheme for non-housing refurbishment projects is being developed and is targeted for launch in early 2014. The launch date will be announced once the piloting and independent peer review processes has been completed.
BREEAM Communities focuses on the masterplanning of whole communities. [8] [9] It is aimed at helping construction industry professionals to design places that people want to live and work in, are good for the environment and are economically successful.
BREEAM includes several general sustainability categories for the assessment:
Home Quality Mark was launched in 2015 as part of the BREEAM family of schemes. It rates new homes on their overall quality and sustainability, then provides further indicators on the homes impact upon the occupants 'Running costs', 'Health and wellbeing' and 'Environmental footprint'.
BREEAM is used in more than 70 countries, with several in Europe having gone a stage further to develop country-specific BREEAM schemes operated by National Scheme Operators (NSOs). There are currently NSOs affiliated to BREEAM in:
Schemes developed by NSOs can take any format as long as they comply with a set of overarching requirements laid down in the Code for a Sustainable Built Environment. They can be produced from scratch by adapting current BREEAM schemes to the local context, or by developing existing local schemes.
A growing body of research evidence is challenging the perception that sustainable buildings are significantly more costly to design and build than those that simply adhere to regulatory requirements. Research by the Sweett Group [11] into projects using BREEAM, for example, demonstrates that sustainable options often add little or no capital cost to a development project. Where such measures do incur additional costs, these can frequently be paid back through lower running expenses, ultimately leading to saving over the life of the building.
Research studies have also highlighted the enhanced value and quality of sustainable buildings. Achieving the standards required by BREEAM requires careful planning, design, specification and detailing, and a good working relationship between the client and project team—the very qualities that can produce better buildings and better conditions for building users. [12] A survey commissioned by Schneider Electric and undertaken by BSRIA [13] examined the experiences of a wide range of companies that had used BREEAM. The findings included, for example, that 88% think it is a good thing, 96% would use the scheme again and 88% would recommend BREEAM to others.
The greater efficiency and quality associated with sustainability are also helping to make such building more commercially successful. There is growing evidence, for example, that BREEAM-rated buildings provide increased rates of return for investors, and increased rental rates and sales premiums for developers and owners. A Maastricht University document, published by RICS Research, [14] reported on a study of the effect of BREEAM certification on office buildings in London from 2000–2009. It found, for example, that these buildings achieved a 21% premium on transaction prices and an 18% premium on rents.
Green building refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This requires close cooperation of the contractor, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages. The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building also refers to saving resources to the maximum extent, including energy saving, land saving, water saving, material saving, etc., during the whole life cycle of the building, protecting the environment and reducing pollution, providing people with healthy, comfortable and efficient use of space, and being in harmony with nature. Buildings that live in harmony; green building technology focuses on low consumption, high efficiency, economy, environmental protection, integration and optimization.’
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes, and neighborhoods, which aims to help building owners and operators be environmentally responsible and use resources efficiently.
Domestic housing in the United Kingdom presents a possible opportunity for achieving the 20% overall cut in UK greenhouse gas emissions targeted by the Government for 2010. However, the process of achieving that drop is proving problematic given the very wide range of age and condition of the UK housing stock.
EcoHomes was an environmental rating scheme for homes in the United Kingdom. It was the domestic version of the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method BREEAM, which could also be applied to a variety of non-residential buildings. It was replaced by the Code for Sustainable Homes in April 2008.
The Code for Sustainable Homes was an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes in United Kingdom. First introduced in 2006, it is a national standard for use in the design and construction of new homes with a view to encouraging continuous improvement in sustainable home building. In 2015 the Government in England withdrew it, consolidating some standards into Building Regulations.
The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is a centre of building science in the United Kingdom, owned by charitable organisation the BRE Trust. It is a former UK government national laboratory that was privatised in 1997. BRE provides research, advice, training, testing, certification and standards for both public and private sector organisations in the UK and abroad. It has its headquarters in Garston, Hertfordshire, England, with regional sites in Glasgow, Swansea, the US, India, the Middle East and China.
The Haute Qualité Environnementale or HQE is a standard for green building in France, based on the principles of sustainable development first set out at the 1992 Earth Summit. The standard is controlled by the Paris-based Association pour la Haute Qualité Environnementale (ASSOHQE).
The Design Quality Indicator (DQI) is a toolkit to measure, evaluate and improve the design quality of buildings.
Building services engineering (BSE) is a professional engineering discipline that strives to achieve a safe and comfortable indoor environment while minimizing the environmental impact of a building.
Design impact measures are measures used to qualify projects for various environmental rating systems and to guide both design and regulatory decisions from beginning to end. Some systems, like the greenhouse gas inventory, are required globally for all business decisions. Some are project-specific, like the LEED point rating system which is used only for its own ratings, and its qualifications do not correspond to much beyond physical measurements. Others like the Athena life-cycle impact assessment tool attempt to add up all the kinds of measurable impacts of all parts of a building throughout its life and are quite rigorous and complex.
Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) has its origins in Scotland and the United States and has been used in one form or another since the 1960s. Preiser and colleagues define POE as "the process of evaluating buildings in a systematic and rigorous manner after they have been built and occupied for some time".
Both the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom promote green building. Presently, there are already regulatory mechanisms in place that establish Britain's commitment to this kind of building construction. The government, for instance, set out a target that by 2016, all new homes will have zero carbon emission and it also includes a progressive tightening of energy efficiency regulations by 25 percent and 44 percent in 2010 and 2013, respectively. The UK Building Regulations set requirements for insulation levels and other aspects of sustainability in building construction.
Israel has a Green Building Standard for buildings with reduced environmental impact. The standard is based on a point rating system, awarding up to 5 stars based on the number of points achieved in 8 categories.
Building for Life, Building for Life 12, Adeliladu am Oes 12 Cymru and Building for a Healthy Life are design tools for improving the quality of new homes and neighbourhoods used across England and Wales. The current version in use in England is Building for a Healthy Life .
A green home is a type of house designed to be environmentally sustainable. Green homes focus on the efficient use of "energy, water, and building materials". A green home may use sustainably sourced, environmentally friendly, and/or recycled building materials. This includes materials like reclaimed wood, recycled metal, and low VOC paints. Additionally, green homes often prioritize energy efficiency by incorporating features, such as high-performance insulation, energy efficient appliances, and smart home technologies that monitor and optimize energy usage. Water conservation is another important aspect, with green homes often featuring water-saving fixtures, rainwater harvesting systems, and grey water recycling systems to reduce water waste. It may include sustainable energy sources such as solar or geothermal, and be sited to take maximum advantage of natural features such as sunlight and tree cover to improve energy efficiency.
CASBEE is the green building certification program used in Japan. It was created by a research committee called the Japan Sustainable Building Consortium (JSBC). The first assessment tool, CASBEE for offices, was launched in 2002. CASBEE now consists of multiple assessment tools tailored to different project scales. The tools are collectively called the CASBEE family. The development of CASBEE's assessment tools was a joint effort between JSBC sub-committees, industry, academia, and government leaders, and the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The JSBC provides overall management of CASBEE, and the administrative office is located within the Institute for Building Environment and Energy Conservation (IBEC).
The Green Building Initiative (GBI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that owns and administers the Green Globes green building assessment and certification in the United States and Canada. It was established in 2004 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.
SABRE was launched in 2017 by the Building Research Establishment (BRE). Organisations such as RIBA have already acknowledged SABRE as a recognised security approach.
Skysawa is a pair of buildings in the center of Warsaw, Poland. The buildings are at 36 Świętokrzyska Street on a lot previously occupied by a 1960s 10-storey office building.
Green building certification systems are a set of rating systems and tools that are used to assess a building or a construction project's performance from a sustainability and environmental perspective. Such ratings aim to improve the overall quality of buildings and infrastructures, integrate a life cycle approach in its design and construction, and promote the fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by the construction industry. Buildings that have been assessed and are deemed to meet a certain level of performance and quality, receive a certificate proving this achievement.
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