How to achieve BREEAM Excellent certification

What do Lambeth Palace in London, Iron Mountain’s VA-7 data centre in Virginia, and Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence all have in common? Although they are very different buildings, they have all achieved BREEAM Excellent certification, which puts them on a par with the top 10% of new non-domestic buildings in the UK. 

But joining the BREEAM Excellent certification list is no easy feat. If you’ve been asked to obtain an Excellent rating, there are certain requirements you’ll need to get right. Here’s how your project can achieve BREEAM Excellent certification.

Under BREEAM UK New Construction, your project must score at least 70% across nine BREEAM categories and meet minimum standards in key areas such as energy and water use to achieve an Excellent certification. If you miss one of these minimum standards, you won’t be able to obtain an Excellent rating – even if you have a high score. 

Many local planning authorities now set BREEAM Excellent as a condition for major non-domestic schemes to ensure that new buildings meet local climate and sustainable design policies. An increasing number of investors and occupiers expect it too, as it helps to protect a building’s long-term value and reduce running costs for its users.

An Excellent rating is achievable for most buildings – as long as you plan for BREEAM from the start of the design process, rather than trying to cram in sustainability features once the design is finalised.

A BREEAM Pre-Assessment is the best way to determine what certification your building can realistically achieve. During a Pre-Assessment, our expert Assessors will look at these three things first:

1. Project type and scale. We determine which credits are achievable for your project. Some buildings have more natural routes to credits than others, for example a city-centre office near a train station will pick up transport credits more easily than a rural warehouse.
2. Design stage. Several credits rely on you taking actions early, for example hiring an Ecologist to survey your site or comparing design options for embodied carbon. If you appoint us at RIBA Stage 1 or 2, you can still achieve most credits. But if you hire us at Stage 4, some credits will be lost and some changes will be expensive to make.
3. Category strengths. We then map out which BREEAM categories your building is likely to score well in, and which you’ll need additional help with. That way, you’ll know where your strongest credits will come from and where to focus more of your budget.

Not all BREEAM categories are equal. Some carry more weight or are easier to earn credits in than others. These are the areas you should focus on for an Excellent rating:

Energy

This is the most heavily weighted category that has the biggest impact on your score.

How to earn credits: Reduce how much energy your building uses, for example by good insulation or low-carbon heating such as heat pumps and smart controls.

Water

How to earn credits: Cut your water usage and identify leaks. Install water-efficient taps and toilets, plus leak detection and water meters, to pick these credits up.

Materials and waste

How to earn credits: Choose responsibly sourced materials and reduce waste. Make sure you recycle all construction waste and provide space for recycling in the finished building.

Transport

How to earn credits: Make it easy for people to travel to your building without a car. Having good public transport links, cycle storage, showers, and EV charging all count too.

Ecology

How to earn credits: Take steps to protect and improve nature on your site, for example by producing green roofs, planting new trees, and creating habitats for wildlife.

Innovation

These are bonus credits that can add up to 10% to your score.

How to earn credits: Exceed BREEAM’s top standards or use new technology that is approved by BRE.

Even if you meet all the requirements for each credit, you’ll need to provide evidence that you’ve met them. Our guide to the BREEAM evidence requirements explains what you need to collect and when.

At Encon Associates, we’re proud to have helped some of the UK’s biggest building projects achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating. Our expert BREEAM Assessors are here to support you throughout the entirety of the assessment process, from the initial Pre-Assessment through to the final certification, offering helpful support and guidance along the way. Our team has never missed a target rating – so, if you partner with us, you’re in the best possible position to secure an Excellent certification.

Get in touch to begin your journey to BREEAM Excellence.