Lucila Porthe is a BREEAM advisor and senior sustainability consultant at real estate and construction consultancy McBains
The Building Research Establishment (BRE) consultation on the new BREEAM update – the first modular update of its kind across multiple BREEAM schemes, introducing improved energy and carbon science across new builds, in-use, refurbishments and fit-outs. has recently closed. So how does the construction and property industry expect the seventh version of BREEAM to fare when it is published next year?
It is essential that the new version of the sustainable building certification scheme reflects the latest scientific knowledge and industry standards, as it will help shape the future of green building standards and the transition to a more resilient and healthy built environment.
“The upcoming changes to BREEAM represent an exciting opportunity to align the standard with widely used objectives and methodologies”
The consultation correctly addressed key issues such as rapid changes to the net zero carbon (NZC) agenda; the need to establish a common foundation and standards; the need to identify and agree on common goals and metrics to compare projects and monitor progress to minimize greenwashing; and, last but not least, the complexity of it all.
Another challenge will be for BREEAM certification to remain relevant while paving the way for sustainable best practice amid an increasing number of standards and certifications in an ever-changing environment.
With only 10 per cent of non-domestic buildings achieving a BREEAM Excellent (Best Practice) rating and only 1 per cent judged to be Excellent (Innovative), the sector needs to raise its bar to meet NZC and sustainability targets. At this point, there are two main elements that are particularly relevant: the aim to simplify and streamline processes and objectives across all BREEAM schemes; and updating the rehabilitation and conditioning plan.
To this end, the overall aim of simplifying processes and objectives across all BREEAM schemes, i.e. new build, refurbishment and fit-out, will be welcomed by assessors, clients and design teams working across multiple projects and schemes. It should also help compare projects, making it easier to refine benchmarks and identify best practices across the board.
With NZC targets on the agenda, closer alignment of BREEAM requirements with embodied and operational carbon metrics is also encouraging. Efforts should focus on streamlining benchmarking and reporting, to ensure there is alignment with other widely used standards developed by leading industry institutes such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Institution of Civil Engineers, Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, Royal Institute of British Architects and organizations such as the UK Green Building Council, Low Energy Transformation and others. Ensuring consistency between methodologies and reporting requirements, as well as the terminology used in the various documents, remains a priority.
KPI progress
This is also an opportunity to drive progress towards standardized ‘green’ KPIs to provide much needed clarity in tracking progress towards NZC. It should also support demand for sustainable investment, increasing transparency and helping with comparability between projects and metrics to reduce greenwashing.
With more than 80 percent of the building stock that will exist in 2050 already built, the proposed updates to the refurbishment and fit-out standard, last updated in 2014, will also be very welcome. Low-carbon retrofitting is an essential part of achieving net zero, and while the sustainable refurbishment of existing buildings presents a valuable opportunity to reduce the carbon incorporated from demolition works and reduce the use of new materials and waste generated in the process, it is often difficult to undertake.
For the upcoming BREEAM Refurbishment and Fit-out Standard, the challenge is to provide the necessary flexibility for existing assets while identifying relevant requirements that would promote innovation and assist the transition to NZC. Establishing benchmarks and capturing best practices will be a key step towards successful modernization strategies.
Responding to these challenges in a fast-paced environment is no small task, but it is encouraging to see BRE’s efforts to rise to the task. The upcoming changes to BREEAM represent an exciting opportunity to maximize synergies within the various BREEAM schemes and align the standard with widely used objectives and methodologies. A coordinated effort must be made to ensure consistency between methodologies and reporting to support the NZC effort in a truly global manner. We hope that the final version will help achieve this goal.
