BREEAM is one of the environmental assessments tools used in the energy industry. It is now considered as a standard that most councils use for new buildings and significant refurbishments. There are different codes depending of whether the building is domestic or commercial or new or existing.

It is essential that at the design stage a BREEAM assessor is engaged and you will gains credits for doing so. These credits are vital in order to achieve the highest rating possible. The project will need to be registered; as failure to do so can result in losing credits

Credits are awarded in 10 categories according to performance. These credits are then added together to produce a single overall score on a scale of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding.

Applicable to domestic and commercial developments, BREEAM assesses each building on a number of environmental principles. Points are awarded against each principle with an overall level given at the end of the process.

BREEAM is also sometimes used as a marketing tool as even a BREEAM “Good” rating shows a significant improvement over and above Building Control minimum environmental requirements.

BREEAM is seen as a good badge of environmental stability both in the way a building has been constructed and its ongoing environmental impact.