Background

BREEAM stands for Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method. This certification, created by BRE Global in 1990, is used to unify the approaches of both construction and design to ESG, health and achieving Net Zero goals. BREEAM measures the sustainability performance of buildings, ensuring that projects meet sustainability goals and continue to perform in an environmentally friendly way.  As of January 2025, over one million buildings have obtained a BREEAM certification, and is used in over 100 countries globally.

What are the certification levels?

The six different BREEAM certification levels are as follows:

  1. Outstanding: Represents pioneering best practice and denotes an exemplary sustainability performance. This level is awarded to projects that achieve 85% or more of the available assessment score.
  2. Excellent: Indicates best practice and is awarded to projects that achieve 70% or more of the available assessment score.
  3. Very Good: Represents advanced good practice and is awarded to projects that achieve 55% or more of the available assessment score.
  4. Good: Denotes intermediate good practice and is awarded to projects that achieve 45% or more of the available assessment score.
  5. Pass: Indicates that the assessed project meets acceptable sustainability standards. This level is awarded to projects that achieve 30% or more of the available assessment score.
  6. Unclassified: Projects that do not meet the minimum standard to achieve a Pass rating fall into this category.

How do you obtain a BREEAM certification?

  1. Select a licensed BREEAM assessor: First, you need to choose a BREEAM assessor, who will carry out the assessments. These professionals are trained and approved by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to evaluate projects against BREEAM standards.
  2. Registration: Your project will be registered with the BRE. Registration officially enters your project into the BREEAM certification process.
  3. Evidence Gathering: Alongside your BREEAM assessor, the project team will collect and compile evidence demonstrating compliance with BREEAM’s sustainability criteria. This is primarily to gather evidence to submit for the BREEAM assessment.
  4. Assessment Submission: Once the evidence is gathered and compiled, your BREEAM assessor submits the assessment to BRE for review. This submission includes detailed documentation of how the project meets or exceeds the various sustainability criteria within BREEAM.
  5. Verification and Site Visit: BRE reviews the submitted assessment, and a verification process follows. This may include a site visit by the assessor to confirm the accuracy of the submitted evidence and ensure that the project’s sustainability features have been implemented as described.
  6. Certification and Rating: After a successful review and verification, BRE issues a BREEAM certification to the project. The certification is valid for three years. The certification includes a rating that reflects the project’s sustainability performance, ranging from “Pass” to “Outstanding.” This rating can be improved upon in future assessments.
  7. Post-Certification: After receiving BREEAM certification, it’s important to maintain and monitor the building’s performance to ensure ongoing compliance with BREEAM standards. As previously mentioned the certification level of a building can improve upon reassessment, so ensuring the building is continuously becoming more sustainable is very important.

Please click here for a comprehensive guide on how to maximise your BREEAM certification level.

What are the benefits of a BREEAM certification on your project?

  • In the UK it is much easier to get planning permission for an extension to your home or for a rebuild of a project with a BREEAM certification. Currently, about 70% of local councils require a BREEAM certification to obtain planning permission.
  • Similarly, it is estimated that a BREEAM certification can add between 8-12% onto the value of a property.
  • A strong performance in the BREEAM certification examination implies your building performs energy efficiently, which will reduce the day to day running cost of the building.
  • BREEAM examines buildings on factors such as their indoor air quality, and how much natural light there is, which focus on the occupant’s mental and physical health and wellbeing. A house with a BREEAM certification is reliably suitable for homeowners with families, pets or elderly people.