BREEAM

BREEAM is an environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings, with 425,000 buildings with certified BREEAM assessment ratings and two million registered for assessment since it was first launched in 1990.

BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation and has become one of the most comprehensive and widely recognised measures of a building's environmental performance. It encourages designers, clients and others to think about low carbon and low impact design, minimising the energy demands created by a building before considering energy efficiency and low carbon technologies.

A BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design, construction and use. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology, energy and water use, the internal environment (health and well-being), pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology and management processes.

BREEAM addresses wide-ranging environmental and sustainability issues. This process enables developers, designers and building managers to demonstrate the environmental credentials of their buildings to clients, planners and other initial parties.