BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, 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.
Purpose
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. Buildings are rated and certified on a scale of 'Pass', 'Good', 'Very Good', 'Excellent' and 'Outstanding'.
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.
History
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.
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.
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.
Scope
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.