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Sustainable Construction Assessment Methods

Achieving higher score levels within the following sustainable construction assessment methods can provide evidence to the Local Planning Authority of the consideration given to sustainability within a development.

BREEAM

BREEAM opens in a new window (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is an environmental assessment method for buildings that sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design. BREEAM addresses wide-ranging environmental and sustainability issues and enables developers and designers to prove the environmental credentials of their buildings to planners and clients.
BREEAM can be used to assess the environmental performance of any type of building (new and existing). Standard versions of the tool exist for common building types and less common building types can be assessed against tailored criteria under the BREEAM Bespoke.

Code for Sustainable Homes

The Code for Sustainable Homes opens in a new window replaced Ecohomes for the assessment of new housing in England. The Code is an environmental assessment method for new homes and contains mandatory performance levels across seven key themes. It covers energy and CO2 emissions, water efficiency and run-off, materials, waste, pollution, health and well-being and management and ecology.
The Code has six levels and sets mandatory minimum performance standards which are higher than Building Regulations. The CO2 emission targets required under the Government’s Zero Carbon opens in a new window new homes policy are equivalent to the energy/carbon standards of different levels of the Code.
From May 2008 all new homes have to be rated against the Code and to include that rating in the Home Information Pack. This does not mean they have to achieve any particular Code level and those that do not achieve any Code level will receive a nil rating. Housing receiving funding from English Partnerships or from the Housing Corporation’s 2008-11 funding round is required to meet Code Level 3 and this is expected to move to Level 4 in 2012 and Level 6 in 2015.

South West Sustainability Checklist

The South West Sustainability Checklist opens in a new window is an easy-to-use online tool that has been devised specifically to guide the design of new developments by making sense of current policy. The Checklist covers regionally specific sustainability and planning issues, emphasising those of higher priority.
BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes assess the environmental performance of designs for individual new homes and buildings. The Checklist complements these by looking at issues relevant to the overall development scale, helping developers, local authorities and other interested parties to deliver sustainable communities.
The Checklist guides the design team in illustrating the issues that they need to address, so that these can be considered at the right stage of the design process rather than having to be incorporated (and the design expensively reworked) at a later stage. Reports can be generated from the Checklist and submitted with the planning documents for the development to the Local Planning Authority as evidence for the inclusion of sustainability considerations within the development’s design.



Related Websites

Contact Environmental Policy & Sustainability

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