The Building Research Establishment (BRE) will launch a training academy and announce changes to the BREEAM environmental assessment standard at next week’s Ecobuild exhibition.
The BRE Academy is the BRE’s new training and education business, set up to help individuals and organisations improve their skills and knowledge, particularly in relation to digital technology and delivering projects efficiently, safely and ethically.
Although not yet officially open for business, the Academy has already developed the BREEAM Accredited Professional (AP) training course, providing design teams with expert advice on built environmental sustainability, design and assessment.
Details of BREEAM UK New Construction 2014, the updated version of the BREEAM environmental assessment tool for non-domestic buildings, will be announced at an EcoBuild breakfast briefing on Wednesday, 5 March.
Key changes in the 2014 revision are likely to include:
- The use of national building regulations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to set the baseline to assess a building’s energy performance rather than applying Part L universally.
- An alternative route to meeting criteria for the responsible sourcing of materials is being developed to avoid the need for complex calculations required under BREEAM 2011.
- The construction process management category has been restructured to better align with the building procurement process, resulting in the new headings: Project brief and design; Life cycle cost and service life planning; Responsible construction practices; Construction and handover; and Aftercare.
There will also be details of a Non-Domestic Refurbishment and Fit-Out scheme currently in development.
The annual BREEAM awards will take place at Ecobuild on Tuesday 4 March at 6pm, celebrating the best in sustainable new and refurbished building around the world. This year’s awards have a different format, with five nominations in each category, and the final result will be revealed on the night.
Ecobuild will also see the launch of a new retrofit consortium made up of four companies: Aereco, Baumit UK, Natural Building Technologies (NBT) and Parity Projects.
The Better Retrofit Partnership’s innovation is that it pledges to assure the post-retrofit performance of all traditional solid walled buildings, covering the performance of not just operational energy but fabric durability, environmental impact, usability, and occupant health and comfort. It is thought to be the first such comprehensive assurance scheme in the UK for retrofit projects.
The partnership will offer a one-stop shop for estate managers and social landlords looking for a joined-up approach to retrofit, saving time and money.
Neil May, managing director of NBT, said: “Currently, many of the monitored retrofit projects are failing to meet their performance targets as ‘improvements’ in one area have damaging and unintended impacts on another. There is a better way of working together – a whole house approach which delivers better retrofit through a holistic understanding of the relationships between energy, health, fabric, ventilation and user behaviour.”
He added: “Having a fully integrated process with appropriate quality control, right from the initial survey and specification through to post-occupancy feedback, is the only way to achieve an assured level of thermal performance, indoor air quality, fabric durability and occupant health, comfort and satisfaction … Our performance pledge is built on a comprehensive survey, energy assessment and risk assessment at the start. This allows us to produce a tailored and cost-effective design and specification, which is delivered by approved installers and tested at post-completion through monitoring and feedback.”
