BREEAM FAQs

1. What is BREEAM?
2. What does BREEAM assess?
3. How does the scoring system work?
4. What types of building can be assessed?
5. Who requires BREEAM building assessments?
6. What are the benefits of BREEAM?
7. How can Clifford Devlin help?
8. Where can I get more information?

1. What is BREEAM?
The Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) is the world’s longest standing and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de facto measure used to describe a building's environmental performance.
First published in 1990, it has been regularly updated since in line with UK Building Regulations and versions created to assess various building types.

Over 2,000 buildings in the UK were assessed in 2008 and the BRE estimates the scheme has helped to reduce the CO2 emissions of UK building stock by 4.5 million tonnes, equivalent to the emissions of 40,000 homes.

2. What does BREEAM assess?
BREEAM assesses a broad range of environmental impacts:

• Management
• Health and Wellbeing
• Energy
• Transport
• Water
• Material and Waste
• Landuse and Ecology
• Pollution

3. How does the scoring system work?
Credits are awarded in each of the assessment factors according to performance. A set of environmental weightings then enables the credits to be added together to produce a single overall score. The building is then rated depending on the total score…..
‘pass’ = 30
‘good’ = 45
‘very good’ = 55
‘excellent’ = 70
‘outstanding’ = 85
….and a certificate awarded to the development.

4. What types of building can be assessed?
BREEAM can be used to assess the environmental performance of any type of building (new and existing). There are schemes to cover residential accommodation (Code for Sustainable Homes/Ecohomes), healthcare and industrial buildings, prisons, offices, schools and colleges and retail premises.

5. Who requires BREEAM building assessments?
BREEAM building assessments are required by various regulatory and government organisations including:

• English Partnerships
• Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
• DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families)
• Welsh Assembly Government
• Regional Development Agencies
• Local Authorities
• Department of Health

6. What are the benefits of BREEAM?

• Provides market recognition of low environmental impact buildings
• Gives you assurance that best environmental practice is incorporated into a building
• Enables you to find innovative solutions that minimise the environmental impact
• A benchmark that is higher than regulation
• Tool to help reduce running costs, improve working and living environments
• A standard that demonstrates progress towards corporate and organisational environmental objectives
• Has a positive influence on the design, construction and management of buildings

7. How can Clifford Devlin help?
We are able to contribute as many as 10 credits to the overall BREEAM score for projects as a result of our site activities. These include:

• Compliance with Considerate Contractors Scheme
• Monitoring, reporting and setting targets for CO2 or energy arising from site activities and transport
• Minimisation of air (dust) pollution
• Sustainable sourcing of construction materials
• Implementation of environmental management system (ISO 14001)
• Where possible the re-use of the building facade/structure
• Preparation and implementation of Construction Site Waste Management Plan
• Recycling/re-use of building aggregate/s�
• Remediation of contaminated land
• �Mitigation of ecological impact of the works

8. Where can I get more information?
Contact the Building Research Establishment’s BREEAM team:
Address: BREEAM Centre, BRE, Garston, Watford, WD25 9XX
Tel: 01923 664462
Email: breeam@bre.co.uk
Website: www.breeam.org