BREEAM: sustainable building certification

Sustainability in construction has ceased to be a trend to become a real commitment to respecting the environment. Various certifications are used to demonstrate how sustainable a building is and, for example, having a BREEAM certification is a key indicator of the building's sustainability.

What is the BREEAM certificate?

Created in 1988 and launched in 1990 in England, the BREEAM certification (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) is a methodology that assesses and certifies the sustainability of a project. This contributes to incorporating sustainability measures in buildings and evaluates environmental, social, and economic aspects. In this way, being BREEAM certified is a way to ensure more sustainable buildings, more environmentally friendly design and construction, lower energy consumption and financial savings.

Obtaining the certificate is voluntary and takes into account aspects such as energy, health and well-being, water, waste, among others, which add up to a score to finally obtain a final score that will determine the effectiveness in terms of how sustainable a project is.

Types of certification

For a holistic approach to assessing the entire life cycle of a building, there is a valuation system that depends on the type of project involved. In that sense, in BREEAM Spain we can find the following types of certification:

• BREEAM ES Urbanism: aims to improve the sustainability of large-scale urban development projects in neighbourhoods or cities.
• BREEAM ES Housing: assesses the sustainability of new residential dwellings
• BREEAM ES New Construction: assesses the sustainability of new construction projects and the renovation and extension of existing buildings for non-residential use
• BREEAM ES In Use: for residential and non-residential buildings that have been in operation for at least two years and are seeking to improve sustainability.
• BREEAM ES Bespoke: assesses unique buildings, which cannot be considered as either Housing or New Construction.

BREEAM Categories

The evaluation to obtain the certificate: BREEAM consists of analysing different criteria in order to obtain a specific score in each of them and thus add up to a final score. Therefore, the environmental impact of a project is determined according to these categories:

• Management
• Health and wellness
• Energy
• Transport
• Water
• Materials
• Waste
• Land use and ecology
• Pollution
• Innovation

How are the score and ranking obtained?

The certification is based on the analysis of the different categories mentioned above, in which each will receive a score. The BREEAM advisor will be responsible for evaluating the compliance of each of them and will obtain a final score. In turn, an environmental weighting factor is applied and points are added for 'innovation'.

Based on this, the BREEAM certificate can be obtained at 5 different levels:

• Correct: with at least 30% of the requirements fulfilled.
• Good: 45% of the requirements met.
• Very good: meet 55% of the requirements.
• Excellent: 70% of the requirements are met.
• Exceptional: more than 85% of the requirements fulfilled.

This score is always accompanied by a number of stars (from 1 to 5).

What are the steps to achieve certification?

In the BREEAM certification process, there are 3 social actors involved: the client, a BREEAM assessor, and BREEAM ES. And the main steps consist of choosing a BREEAM advisor, registering the project, obtaining the provisional certificate, and obtaining the final certificate.

However, the process is longer.

At Zero Consulting, our working methodology to obtain the certification is as follows:

• Pre-evaluation: where we evaluate the aspects to improve and make proposals.
• Project consulting: where we draw up the document with the project requirements to be included in the executive project. In this phase, preliminary studies such as energy simulations, renewable energies, life cycle analysis, etc. are carried out.
• Design phase: where all the evidence and justification of the different points are collected to obtain verification.
• Tender consulting: stage in which the conditions document is drawn up to be annexed to the tender with the requirements to be met by the contractor.
• On-site consulting: in this phase, training is provided to contractors, an online platform is implemented to record site consumption (in terms of energy, water and waste), and photographic evidence of good environmental practices is provided. Additionally, support is provided to the contractor to achieve a good score.
• Post-construction certification: where a compilation of evidence and justification of the different points to obtain the post-construction certification is carried out.

Projects with BREEAM certification

At Zero Consulting we carry out sustainability consulting for obtaining BREEAM, our objective being to propose alternatives to achieve the maximum score in each category and present viable solutions that ensure the optimisation of actions, minimising investment and improving the sustainability of the project.

Tarragona Customs with a Very Good rating

The Reside Group carried out the refurbishment of the old Tarragona Customs House to convert it into 34 residential flats. For this, they relied on Zero Consulting for the execution of sustainability consulting in terms of energy, materials, and project management, obtaining the rating Very Good in the BREEAM certification ES Housing. At the same time as contributing to environmental sustainability, this is the first building to obtain such a rating in the province of Tarragona.

The application of the BREEAM methodology allows us to obtain a building that respects its surroundings and the environment, as well as the health of future users. This is achieving a consumption reduction of energy and water, and reducing CO₂ emissions. In turn, it helps to promote sustainable building.

If you want to obtain the BREEAM certificate for your new construction or for the refurbishment of an existing project, do not hesitate to contact us. With sustainability consulting, we will help you achieve this certification and reach your goal of having buildings that are more respectful of the environment.