Established in 1990, the BREEAM scheme for accrediting buildings based on their environmental credentials has had significant implications for both architects and builders.
Thousands of buildings have been registered for certification, in the UK and in more than 50 other countries.
The current scheme provided by the UK Building Research Establishment (BRE) has focussed on how new buildings can effectively incorporate crucial environmentally friendly measures into their designs. Now BRE is extending its scope by launching BREEAM International Refurbishment and Fit-Out (RFO).
This extends an already UK-established rating system that can be applied to the refurbishment of older buildings.
Property Aspects Magazine spoke with Wayne Langford, Managing Director of water management experts Hydrorock, who commented, “This is a valuable extension of BREEAM and should be enormously helpful to those of us working in sectors that have products specifically designed to meet rigorous environmental requirements.”
Wayne added: “Refurbishment and fit-out of existing buildings is likely to provide bigger challenges to architects and builders when it comes to meeting environmental demands.”
About BREEAM International Refurbishment and Fit-Out (RFO)
The new BREEAM RFO assessment scheme is tailored to recognise the difficulties in meeting these challenges. It provides a degree of flexibility that recognises that individual circumstances will affect environmental impact assessment. The extended scheme has a modular rating system of four parts. This allows for developments to be assessed against one or all of them, in any combination. In some cases this may mean that only part of a building will be submitted for assessment, which gives refurbishment projects more options at the planning stage.
“We have a range of different products relating to drainage solutions, that are BREEAM accredited,” concludes Wayne, “So this extension of the scheme is good news for us and for our clients, as it will allow them to choose the right solution to fit the level of BREEAM accreditation that they’re seeking.”
Property Aspects would like to thank Wayne Langford for his contribution to this article. He can be contacted on 0161 212 1618.
