What Is BREEAM?
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is a sustainability assessment method that is used to masterplan projects, infrastructure and buildings. Launched in 1990, by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) it sets standards for the environmental performance of buildings through the design, specification, construction and operation phases and can be applied to new developments or refurbishment schemes.
BREEAM assessment evaluates the procurement, design, construction and operation of a development against a range of targets based on performance benchmarks.
It focuses on sustainable value across range of categories:
- Energy
- Land use and ecology
- Water
- Health and wellbeing
- Pollution
- Transport
- Materials
- Waste
- Management
Each category focusses on the most influential factors, including reduced carbon emissions, low impact design, adaption to climate change, ecological value and biodiversity protection.
Each of the criteria is scored and then multiplied by a weighting. There are minimum thresholds that must be achieved, and additions can be made for specific innovations. The resulting overall score is translated into one of the BREEAM ratings; unclassified, pass, good, very good, excellent or outstanding.
Two assessment/certification stages are carried out (a design stage assessment which results in an interim certificate, and a post-construction assessment resulting in a final certificate being issued and a rating awarded).
When Is BREEAM Needed?
It is vital that you commission a BREEAM assessor at the very start of your project, as certain achievable credits require action to be taken in the initial stages, with these credits becoming unavailable once the project is past a certain point.
How Can Productivv Help?
On top of providing the overlying BREEAM assessments, our team of assessors can also help you to achieve the credits that you need by offering supplementary services such as SBEMs for ENE 01, air quality plans for HEA 02, acoustic performance testing for HEA 05 & POL 05 and many others.
For more information, please call us on 0333 339 2322 or use our handy contact form to send us an email.
