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Tenants, landlords and stakeholders around the world are paying increasing attention to Environmental Social Governance (ESG) criteria, marking a positive shift in values across sectors.
The global building and construction sector accounts for 36% of energy consumption worldwide and 40% of CO2 emissions, making commercial fit outs a crucial part of any sustainability strategy. Prioritising environmental considerations comes with financial benefits as well, including an increase in asset value and property value, higher occupancy rates, greater talent attraction and retention, and lower construction and operating costs.
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What is BREEAM?
BREEAM, or the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, was first launched in the UK in 1990. It sets best practice standards for the environmental performance of buildings through design, specification, construction and operation. BREEAM is one of a range of assessments and certifications that help businesses quantify their sustainability commitments.
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How does BREEAM work?
BREEAM can assess standard project categories such as offices, retail, education and healthcare, but also offers bespoke schemes for non-standard projects. This assessment method ensures clients, project teams and facility managers are certain that the required standard of best environmental practice is adopted in their project. It can also be used as a marketing tool for potential tenants.
There are nine criteria that make up the BREEAM scoring scheme. Each of the criteria are weighted differently and there is a minimum standard that must be achieved for each one. The resulting score is translated into the project’s overall BREEAM rating.
Projects can achieve a BREEAM Unclassified, Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent or Outstanding rating.
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The BREEAM assessment criteria
The BREEAM assessments are carried out by licensed assessors based on a scoring scheme with nine criteria:
- Energy
- Land use and ecology
- Water
- Health & wellbeing
- Pollution
- Transport
- Materials
- Waste
- Management
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How to achieve a BREEAM certification
The BREEAM certification process has 5 steps. The following provides more information on what businesses can expect at each stage.
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1. Pre-assessment
The pre-assessment outlines which BREEAM rating your project or proposal could achieve and which aspects to improve in order to reach your desired rating. If you decide to pursue a BREEAM rating, we will appoint a BREEAM assessor to conduct the pre-assessment.
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2. Design stage assessment
Your BREEAM assessor holds workshops with the project team to ensure all BREEAM criteria are understood and implemented in the design. An interim BREEAM certificate is issued at the end of the design stage.
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3. Construction safe assessment
The BREEAM team collect evidence to prove implementation of the design plan. At the end of the construction phase, all evidence is collated and your BREEAM assessor will submit the final assessment to the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
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4. Third party assessment
Once the final assessment is submitted, the BRE evaluate the project for quality control.
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5. Certification
The BRE issues a certificate when the project passes quality control. This certification is official and can be displayed. The project will also be listed on the BRE’s BREEAM database, GreenBookLive.
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BREEAM and SKA rating comparison
Like BREEAM, the SKA rating is an accreditation process that evaluates the fulfilment of sustainability measures. However, the two certifications have varying requirements and characteristics. To help businesses determine which assessment is right for them, we’ve put together a side-by-side comparison.
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BREEAM
Key aspects of a BREEAM assessment:
- A very thorough assessment that will influence almost every part of a construction project
- Has a wide range of scores, from Unrated to Excellent
- The world’s longest established green rating scheme for buildings
- Applicable to all construction projects
- Used globally with global recognition
- Certification fees are based on project size and scope
- BREEAM rating of Pass or Good can usually be achieved without additional cost per sq m
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SKA rating
Key aspects of a SKA rating assessment:
- Flexible scoping
- Three scores that are easy to understand and recognise (Bronze, Silver and Gold)
- Formal quality-assured scheme
- Applicable to retail and office fit outs
- Only used in the UK
- Cost effective with a set fee for certification
- A SKA Silver rating (and sometimes Gold) can often be achieved without additional costs per sq m
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BREEAM accreditation with Oktra
When our clients choose to go through the BREEAM accreditation process, we appoint a BREEAM assessor to conduct the pre-assessment and work with the project team to ensure the scheme is aligned to achieve the client’s desired rating.
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“BREEAM is a great in-depth tool and definitely the go-to standard for environmental compliance within Europe. Choosing a BREEAM building or designing to BREEAM standards guarantees the building has been properly vetted. With planning and collaboration, high BREEAM ratings can be achieved in any construction industry.”
Oktra
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The Guide to Green Building Rating Schemes
To learn more about some of the main rating schemes for fit out projects – including assessment criteria and side-by-side comparisons – download our free guide.
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Interested in learning more about obtaining a BREEAM rating? Contact us below or take a look at some of our BREEAM-certified projects.
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Contact us
Speak to a member of our sustainability team today
020 7553 9500
info@oktra.co.uk
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