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BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential Officially Launched!

BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential V6.1 has officially launched. Discover what’s new and how Encon Associates can help guide your next project.

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Rafaela dos Santos
17th April 2025
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We’re excited to share some big news in the world of sustainable housing! The Building Research Establishment (BRE) has officially launched its updated residential sustainability assessment: BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential V6.1, formerly known as the Home Quality Mark (HQM).

What Does This Mean for Developers and Assessors?

The new BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential V6.1 provides an integrated, science-based approach to sustainability assessments. It aligns better with industry standards and helps ensure compliance with the latest regulations and ESG requirements. The result?

A simpler, clearer certification process and a globally recognised stamp of sustainability for residential developments.

Key improvements include:

  • Greater alignment with lifecycle assessment and embodied carbon standards
  • Updated requirements for daylighting assessments
  • Revised evidence schedules for a more straightforward process
Aerial photo of a typical British housing estate in the village of Middleton in Leeds West Yorkshire in the UK, showing a top down drone view of suburban streets, roads and rows of houses.

How Encon Associates Can Support You

At Encon Associates, we’ve worked extensively with the Home Quality Mark, and we’re here to help you navigate this transition to BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential. Whether you’re a developer, assessor, or investor, we can support you with:

  • Expert sustainability consulting
  • Guidance on new V6.1 requirements
  • Lifecycle and embodied carbon assessments
  • Daylighting analysis and evidence collation
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We’ll help ensure your projects meet the new standards while keeping your certification process smooth and stress-free.

Get in touch with our team to learn how we can support your residential developments in this exciting new chapter for sustainable housing.

Stay tuned for more updates and insights as the industry embraces this change!

“The new BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential, formerly known as HQM, represents far more than just a simple change of name. It demonstrates a significant structural update that ensures BRE’s robustness in the construction sector. With this integration, we can expect a great adherence from both clients and companies, as it integrates the latest science-based building research from BRE and relevant commercial and regulatory requirements.”
Beatryz Budacs – Sustainability Consultant
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Discover more about BREEAM New Construction: Residencial
BREEAM New Constructions: Residential provides buyers with expert insights into the environmental impact and running costs of a home throughout its entire life cycle. This offers greater peace of mind for eco-conscious buyers who are looking for the highest quality homes.
Securing BREEAM New Construction: Residential certification showcases your dedication to building sustainable, high quality homes that are fit for the future. BREEAM New Construction: Residential seeks to improve the marketability of your development and demonstrates compliance with best practices in modern housing.
No, BREEAM New Construction: Residential is a voluntary scheme. However, many developers choose to pursue BREEAM New Construction: Residential certification, in order to meet consumer demand for sustainable homes and stand out in today’s competitive market.

Encon are not your usual BREEAM consultancy. They are at the forefront of their peers, and have provided us and our clients with clear direction, guidance to deliver 2 “outstanding” schemes, with another 2 in the BRE Pipeline. The director level involvement throughout the process means you have real time access to a fantastic array of experience, guiding the team to step through the BREEAM process from design to delivery. The adjacent streamlined services in support of the submissions provides a one stop shop seamless delivery. We will look forward to working with them on many future projects.

Lee Sherrington

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