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What is BREEAM Certification?

What is BREEAM Certification?

BREEAM stands for Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method and is a sustainability assessment framework that is used to evaluate the environmental performance of buildings and infrastructure.

The BREEAM framework has been created to strive for sustainable solutions to many of the key challenges facing society today and encourage the construction industry to work towards net zero carbon to address health and social impacts.

BREEAM can be used to assess brand new developments or established buildings which are being renovated and refurbished. This framework is used to specify and measure the sustainability performance of buildings and helps building projects to meet their sustainability goals and achieve optimal performance.

BREEAM assesses a building or infrastructure’s sustainability in several categories, including:

  • Energy
  • Water
  • Management
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Transport
  • Resources
  • Land use and ecology
  • Pollution
  • Materials 

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) administers BREEAM accreditation and there is a choice of companies who have qualified independent assessors who can audit a building. 

A BREEAM assessment is not a mandatory requirement of all buildings in the UK, however BREEAM assessments are a mandatory part of planning requirements for every local authority in London and many more across the country.

 

How can we help you?

We provide handwashing solutions to a huge range of commercial, domestic and medical settings with customers ranging from hotels and schools to dental surgeries and hospitals.

We supply water saving taps and plumbing fittings which is a key area where you can gain credits towards a BREEAM rating, as these products use less water and use less energy.

Speciality taps, aerators and flow controllers can reduce the amount of water used by more than half. We work closely with manufacturers such as Neoperl who produce high quality WRAS approved fittings, for example, tap aerators. We recommend fitting aerators to all taps in high traffic commercial properties as this will maximise cost savings.

Ways to reduce flow rates and water consumption include:

  • Fit tap aerators to reduce water flow
  • Fit Shower Flow Regulators to reduce water usage
  • Fit Cold Start taps to reduce hot water consumption and save energy
  • Fit Dynamic Lever Control taps which control the water flow with two flow settings
  • Change shower heads to smaller heads and those fitted with a flow controller
  • Install a cistern with dual flush and small litre usage
  • Install a water meter to monitor water usage
  • Install a Smart Water Monitor to detect leaks
  • Install a Smart meter to monitor energy usage

If you would like advice on products you could install to help towards BREEAM credits, then please do speak to our experienced sales team.