Everything you need to know about the BREEAM assessment criteria

As a developer, project manager, or asset owner, it’s vital that you understand the BREEAM assessment criteria from the outset, as this can make all the difference between a smooth, cost-effective assessment and one that leads to delays and costly redesigns later down the line. The choices you make early on, from layout and fabric performance through to materials and site strategy, can all have a major impact on your final BREEAM score.

In this guide, we break down the BREEAM score categories, explain how the assessment works in practice, and highlight how we can help you achieve your desired rating.

As Daniel Lee, one of our Graduate Consultants explains: “During the BREEAM assessment process, your building’s sustainability credentials are measured using  a structured, evidence-based framework. What makes BREEAM so influential is its holistic approach; rather than focusing solely on energy efficiency, BREEAM covers a broad range of topics including water use, health and wellbeing, environmental impact, and long-term resilience. This holistic approach helps your project teams to make informed decisions that reduce environmental impact, enhance occupant comfort, and deliver buildings that perform better over their entire lifecycle.”

Each category contains a number of credits, which are weighted according to their environmental impact and contribution to the overall building performance. The BREEAM categories are:

• Management – assesses your project’s policies, procurement strategies, site management practices and commissioning processes
• Energy – measures the operational energy performance, carbon emissions and system efficiency of your building
• Health and wellbeing – considers the comfort and health of future occupants, assessing your building’s indoor air quality, acoustics, lighting and thermal performance
• Transport – evaluates how accessible your building is to public transport and how well it supports low-carbon travel
• Water – focuses on your asset’s water consumption, system efficiency and long-term water management
• Materials – assesses the environmental impact of your construction products, responsible sourcing and lifecycle performance
• Waste – credits cover both construction and operational waste management, covering your site waste management planning, waste minimisation, and recycling strategies
• Land use and ecology – evaluates your site’s environmental impact, biodiversity and ecological value before and after development
• Pollution – focuses on minimising your building’s negative impacts to air, water, noise and light
• Innovation – rewards exemplary performance or the use of innovative sustainability measures that are not recognised within the standard BREEAM methodology

Each BREEAM score category awards your project with a set number of credits, which are then weighted and added together to give your overall BREEAM score. This score then determines your final BREEAM v7 rating:

• Outstanding (85% or above)
• Excellent (70% or above)
• Very good (55% or above)
• Good (40% or above)
• Pass (25% or above)
• Unclassified (25% or below)

The BREEAM assessment process is broken down into the following 4 stages:

1) Pre-assessment stage

A BREEAM pre-assessment is an initial review that identifies which credits are available to you based on the building type and project scope. It provides a clear roadmap that signals which credits you can realistically achieve, which helps to inform early design decisions.

2) Design stage

Your BREEAM Assessor will review the information provided by your design team from RIBA Concept onwards. It’s important that your design team and sustainability consultants work together early on, as many credits are influenced by your building’s layout, systems and material choices.

3) Post-construction stage

The ultimate goal of this stage is to confirm whether your team has delivered on their design commitments. Your BREEAM Assessor will gather evidence including as-built drawings, specifications and photographic records, as well as completing a final site inspection. This document forms a critical part of the final submission to BRE.

4) Final certification

Once all the evidence has been compiled, it is then submitted to the BRE for quality assurance. It usually takes around six to eight weeks for BRE to review all the evidence, before they issue your final BREEAM certification.

To achieve your desired BREEAM rating, you need to do much more than simply work through a checklist. You need to engage with a BREEAM Assessor early on and ensure that your design, construction, and delivery teams work closely together throughout the entirety of your project.

At Encon Associates, our experienced BREEAM Assessors are here to guide you through every stage of the BREEAM process, from pre-assessment to final certification. We’ll help you identify which credits are achievable for your project and ensure that robust evidence is captured throughout. By integrating the BREEAM assessment criteria from the outset, we help you minimise risk, avoid costly design changes, and maximise opportunities to improve your asset’s performance across the key BREEAM categories.

Get in touch today to discover how we can help you achieve your targeted BREEAM rating.