BREEAM

The operation of BREEAM (Building Research Establishment's environmental assessment method) is overseen by an independent sustainability board, representing a wide
cross-section of construction industry stakeholders.
BREEAM is the world's leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings, with over 115,000 buildings certified and nearly 700,000 registered.
It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de facto measure used to describe a building's environmental performance.

Credits are awarded in nine categories according to performance and the combined score provides a rating of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding.

Caledonian's BREEAM Performance

BREEAM accreditation is widely pursued on many of our projects across all sectors of business including, residential, hotel, single living accommodation for the military and prison projects. Most recently a BREEAM "Excellent" ratings were achieved at HMP Swaleside and MoD Northwood for single living accommodation, with a Very Good rating gained on a Hilton hotel project, where a biomass boiler and heat recovery system were incorporated into the design.

Caledonian employs a permanent environmental manager who, as part of the design team, advises and coordinates activity relating to the BREEAM. The environmental manager is able to provide consultation to clients in demonstrating environmental compliance and make a significant contribution to improving the environmental building standards.

Caledonian Aims and Objectives

Caledonian maintains a set of aims and objectives which are applied to each building project and are the responsibility of the design manager and environmental manager to implement:-

Mitigate the impact of the project on the environment
Ensure best environmental practice is incorporated into the project
Enable buildings to be recognised according to their environmental benefitS
Provide a credible environmental label for the project (normally, but not exclusively BREEAM)
Ensure procurement of responsibly sourced materials such as FSC for timber
Raise the awareness of owners, occupants and operators of the benefits of the project and how to manage the completed buildings effectively

Caledonian's input into project design and development

Buildings: Through experience, Caledonian can assist in maximising BREEAM credits for the building elements of the assessment in areas such as achieving the target emissions rate (TER) or improving air tightness.

Design and Monitoring Process: The Caledonian Environmental Manager will set out responsibilities for the individual sections of the BREEAM 2008 Assessment and provide an initial brief to the Project Team apportioning actions required, target credits and key factors upon which to focus. The schedule thus developed with the agreement of the Team will then be monitored at every Design Team meeting and progress updated. As the Caledonian Environmental Manager will be a member of the Design Team the status, targets and forecast overall credits score will be provided to the Team as 'real time' information.

Design: The design activity within a project has a substantial impact upon the BREEAM rating. Caledonian will review the key design elements and establish a target level of credits for the project and can advise on enhancements.

Site activities: The environmental manager will audit the construction site fortnightly to ensure best practice is being employed by all. Site monitoring includes approval and review of a site waste management plan and monitoring on going activities such as consumption of water and energy and transport utilisation).

Design Considerations

As a starting point for any project, it is worth considering:

How to reduce the environmental impact of construction and building operation through better design?
Recognise best practice that exists in the industry
Ways to highlight the economic benefits to stakeholders and clients.
How do you provide comprehensive method of measuring and monitoring environmental performance?
Evaluate all areas of "Sustainability" i.e. Economic, Environmental and Social.

Ways in which you can maximise BREEAM Credits

By Reducing Operating Costs

Design of the building form and fabric to minimise system loads through use of natural day lighting and avoidance of unwanted solar gain
Control of heat and ventilation losses
Avoidance of air-conditioning
Provision of occupier control over temperature and ventilation
Specification of efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems.
Zoning of heating, cooling, and passive ventilation and lighting systems to take account of building orientation, day lighting potential and space
Ease of monitoring of energy and water costs through the provision of sub-meters to key plant and systems.

Increasing flexibility

Careful zoning and adaptability of the basic services within a building to allow for changes in use patterns, and therefore loads.
Variable scales of floor plates to accommodate differing occupier demands.
Avoiding the need for inflexible internal load-bearing walls
Open-plan spaces, allowing lots of air and natural light whilst maintaining privacy and quiet working space.
Careful design of the acoustic environment to control background noise levels.

In summary designs should:

Demonstrate the sustainability credentials to planning authorities, investors and clients.
Reduced energy and other running costs.
Improved staff productivity.
Make buildings more attractive to potential customers or tenants.
Pre-empt legislation.
Setting targets for improvement.
Improved image & ethical investment policies