Isn’t it enough for prisons to be secure and humane? Do they have to be environmentally friendly as well? Apparently, because Her Majesty’s Prison Service has contracted BRE to come up with a framework, based on BREEAM*, for assessing the environmental impact of Category B prison sites and new secure cellular accommodation blocks.

Cellular prison accommodation is one of the main building types on an HM Prison Service secure prison accommodation site. Cellular is the Service’s current priority, so BRE will begin by developing specific BREEAM assessment criteria, scoring and weightings for both self-assessment and formal assessment.

The Service will use the BREEAM methodology to audit procurement and demonstrate compliance with the Property Construction Panels, the Sustainability Action Plan targets and its own sustainable development policy. The project will run until May 2004 and could be the first part of a complete set of methodologies for assessing all proposed building types on a typical prison site. The Service will also use the BREEAM methodology to audit procurement and demonstrate compliance with Government’s Construction Client Panel (GCCP) targets.

*BREEAM: The Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method

Source

Construction Manager