BREEAM & Energy Performance Certificates

Central to the Northwest Development Agencies Sustainable Buildings Policy is the use of BREEAM to assess the environmental performance of their developments and the energy rating achieved as demonstrated by the Energy Performance Certificates awarded. 

BREEAM

The NWDA Sustainable Buildings Policy has been developed to set the standard for commercial developments in The Northwest and to meet the challenges of climate change. The policy was approved by the NWDA Board in May 2007 for all new major refurbishment projects over £500,000. The implementation of the policy is supported by Sustainable Buildings Guidance Note and provides a series of mandatory primary and secondary key performance indicators, which are applied depending on the total cost of the development.

The BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Model) Standard of ‘Excellent’ has been applied as one of the key performance indicators for new build developments and ‘Very Good’ for Major Refurbishment projects. All developments should strive to achieve Excellent which will be demonstrated through the pre and post construction BREEAM Assessments.

Energy Performance Certificates

In January 2003, the European Union Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) came into force, creating a common framework to promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings across the European Union. One of the requirements of the Directive is the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).

The directive was implemented in England and Wales in 2008. Since October 2008, it has been a legal requirement for all properties including homes, commercial and public buildings to have an EPC whenever they are: Constructed, Sold or Let.

NWDA position on EPCs:

The Northwest Regional Development Agency requires all new and refurbished buildings that are funded by the NWDA to meet minimum sustainability criteria. The targets are set out in ‘The NWDA Sustainable Building Policy’ document that requires the following: 

• New build developments:

All new build developments should achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. Under BREEAM 2008, mandatory energy credits for BREEAM ‘Excellent’ means that newly constructed buildings must achieve an EPC Carbon index of  ‘40’ (equivalent to a mid-B EPC rating). 

• Refurbished buildings:

All buildings that have a major refurbishment should achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating. There are no mandatory energy credits for BREEAM ‘Very Good’ under the 2008 scheme. However, the NWDA require a step change improvement in the energy performance of a building using the Energy Performance Certificate rating. The Energy Performance Rating of refurbishments must improve on the ‘baseline’ energy rating which is measured before the refurbishments have been implemented.

For further details on BREEAM and EPCs in relation to NWDA Sustainable Buildings Policy please visit the NWDA website where designated pages will provide you with links to the NWDA Sustainable Buildings Policy, supporting Guidance Note and Checklist http://www.nwda.co.uk/sustainablebuildings.

Factsheet

In addition to the above key documents and tools please note specific factsheets are available on BREEAM and Energy Performance Certificates.

                                                        (Please click image to download factsheet)

Case Studies

If you have a development that you would like to be considered as a NWDA Sustainable Buildings case study in terms of ‘BREEAM and/or EPCs’, please contact Emma Kyng emma.kyng@ccinw.com 0161 295 5076.