BRE and Green council to toughen up BREEAM

BRE Global and the UK Green Building Council will work together to develop and promote BREEAM, the environmental rating system.

The UK GBC will set up a technical committee in the coming months to evaluate how BREEAM can be made tougher. The process will include assessing other tools being used by Green Building Councils around the world such as LEED in the US and Greenstar in Australia to see what elements could potentially be incorporated into a revamped version of the environmental assessment tool.

Paul King, chief executive of the UK-GBC said. “BREEAM is long established and well respected, but must continue to develop if it is to serve the needs of this dynamic sector”.

BREEAM is being developed internationally, with schemes for the Middle East and other areas. “As Green Building Councils emerge around the world, each one will be looking at what tools are available and how easily they can be customised for their needs,” said King.

The two organisations will also work to try and ensure greater harmonisation between BREEAM and other rating systems. “There is a need for greater harmonisation of the different tools available,“ said King. “A lot of multinational companies are building facilities around the world and they want to be able to compare their building stock, whether it’s a LEED Platinum or a BREEAM Very good”.