We explore how the BREEAM V7 and SKArating are advancing sustainability and minimising the environmental impact of the sector.
According to the UK Green Building Council1, 25% of UK emissions are directly attributable to the built environment. There is still much that can be done to improve sustainability and reduce the sector’s impact on the environment.
Robert Brazier, Head of Contracts & Commercial Managers at Pexhurst, explains what the built environment can expect from the upcoming Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology2 (BREEAM) V7 regulation changes and how they might affect you.
Rob said: “With sustainability and reducing the construction industry’s environmental impact gaining increasing significance, the BREEAM has set the standard to enable property investors, asset owners, managers, and occupiers to determine and drive sustainable improvements in the operational performance of their assets for over three decades.”
What are the key changes likely to be?
Following a consultation with customers and stakeholders, BREEAM announced a focus on whole-life carbon and energy credits that will apply to the new construction, in-use, refurbishment, and fit-out sectors.
The upcoming changes will see metrics aligned across the entire BREEAM suite of standards, ensuring consistent carbon measurement and comparability throughout a building’s life cycle. Additionally, utilising metrics that align with other reporting frameworks will see real value added.
Furthermore, there will be a greater emphasis on the performance of the building, rather than the specific processes and metrics used to create it. The BREEAM V7 regulation changes will also track a building on its pathway to net zero carbon.
A competitive edge over others in the industry
With sustainability becoming ever more important, targeting and achieving BREEAM certification could enable assets to stand out in a saturated market.
Indeed, by demonstrating a commitment to high-quality construction and sustainability, firms could not only gain a competitive edge over others in the sector but also improve client trust.
Improved project management and innovation
Tying in BREEAM certification targets with a holistic approach to building design and construction can often lead to better project outcomes, meaning not only a happier client but also a smoother project for anyone involved.
Additionally, targeting the strict demands and requirements of BREEAM V7 could drive the adoption of innovative construction methods and technologies, assisting a project’s sustainability processes as well as the quality of future buildings.
Faster and simpler compliance with regulations and targets
With building and sustainability regulations becoming increasingly stricter and the demand for compliance absolutely paramount, building operators, industry professionals, asset owners and investors need to make sure their development has these requirements in mind.
Achieving BREEAM V7 compliance will ensure that any building complies with the various environmental and sustainability regulations, enabling all involved in a construction project to avoid penalties. Similarly, investing in BREEAM V7-certified projects will enable professionals and asset owners to align with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and report against established net zero trajectories, such as the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM)3. This tool evaluates the operational carbon performance of a building and assesses it against national climate targets.
Reduced operating costs and enhanced performance
With BREEAM-certified buildings designed to be more energy efficient, this can often lead to lower operational costs, including a reduction in utility expenditure for the building occupiers. Additionally, buildings designed and built with sustainability in mind often have an increased asset value, too.
Furthermore, occupants may also experience an upturn in their comfort and wellbeing. Indeed, BREEAM-certified buildings typically provide healthier and more comfortable spaces, increasing tenant satisfaction and retention.
Buildings with sustainability in mind are becoming a major focus for anyone in the construction industry, especially with BREEAM certifications and the Future Buildings Standard regulations taking such a prominent role in the sector.
Aimed at identifying performance gaps between design intent and operational performance to support the continuous improvement of real estate performance, the BREEAM V7 regulation changes will impact not only architects, contractors and asset managers but also building occupiers.
While these regulations are becoming tighter, achieving certification and exceeding these quality standards can actually benefit anyone involved in the built environment. So, paying attention to the upcoming BREEAM V7 regulations now and how they could affect you in the future could give you a significant advantage over your competitors and help significantly reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.
Joe Croft, Head of Environmental and Sustainability at Overbury and Morgan Lovell, and an SKA rating board member, explained that SKA rating began over 15 years ago in response to existing schemes like BREEAM, failing to adequately cater for the fit-out sector. The initial SKA scheme was designed for commercial office fit-outs, with later expansions covering retail and higher education spaces.
He stated: “Since its inception, over 1,000 projects have achieved a SKA rating, with many more benefiting from the good practice measure guidance provided by SKA.
“SKA has always been user-centric with each of the three schemes being researched and written by experts who live and breathe their sectors.
“The philosophy is about creating requirements that drive real, measurable positive change in projects. This has been successfully achieved by creating very granular schemes with Good Practice Measures (GPMs) for all aspects of a fit-out which require the project to go beyond the industry standard practice to achieve the measure. The scheme tries to avoid creating measures that will create an additional administrative burden but looks to instead create easy-to-understand (though not easy to achieve) measures that require the designers, engineer, contractor, or end user to do something specific and real on the project which will meaningfully reduce the environmental impact of the project/lifecycle of the space.”
The present situation
Joe explained that at present neither SKA, BREEAM RFO (or BREEAM v7) adequately tackle embodied carbon in the fit-out sector. As a result, the SKA team, with the support from many sector experts are currently undertaking an exercise to create a new scheme that will upgrade SKA’s capabilities in a number of areas and embodied carbon is a key focus especially given recent research conducted by Overbury4 which showed that the embodied carbon of fit-outs is likely to easily exceed the embodied carbon of base build over the lifetime of the building.
Joe commented: “Some of the new GPMs will address embodied carbon directly, while others will address issues which indirectly lead to greater embodied carbon impact (e.g. circularity, destructibility).”
Joe explained that the scheme is assessor-led, with these individuals receiving training and support not only in the detailed aspects of the GPMs but also in the broader philosophy of the scheme. This enables assessors to think critically about issues that may not have been anticipated by the authors of a given GPM.
This allows the assessors to exercise their judgement where they believe the ‘rationale’ of the GPM has been met, and that what has been done is not less than the criteria requested. This allows the scheme to be more responsive to the fast-paced nature of fit-out projects. Assessors don’t need to go back to the scheme and then await a response from a central body, instead, they exercise their expertise and judgement on their projects knowing that they will ultimately be audited and will need to be able to justify their thinking.
Joe concluded by saying: “The new version will have the potential to be a shot in the arm of a sector that increasingly wants to do ‘the right thing’ but hasn’t had an appropriate mechanism to drive it, or a clear enough understanding of what level of change is required for a project to ‘do its bit’ to mitigate the climate crisis.”
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