About and Tips
The Knowledge Base stores current Compliance Notes (KBCNs) for issues in live BREEAM & Home Quality Mark (HQM) scheme version and selected superseded versions. CNs provide essential supplementary guidance to the scheme technical criteria and operational processes.
KBCNs do not change or modify the intent of criteria and should not impose additional or more onerous requirements. These are intended to clarify the criteria or explain how to interpret them in certain situations. Where a KBCN has been applied to an Issue in a particular BREEAM Scheme (as identified above each KBCN) it is, therefore, applicable to all assessments under that Scheme, regardless of the date it was published.
Typically CNs will cover how the criteria can be interpreted and therefore applied to specific situations on a project. CNs therefore do not apply to all assessments but where they do apply they provide valuable additional guidance and should be applied.
The Knowledge Base is a centralised resource designed to be used by assessors and all BREEAM staff thus providing an increasing level of consistency in interpretation and application of BREEAM and HQM criteria. Assessors may also share KB CNs with clients.
The Knowledge Base must be used in conjunction with the scheme technical and operational manuals, as these manuals outline the formal criteria and processes against which compliance and therefore a certification decision is determined.
A key aim of this Knowledge Base is to empower assessors in making compliance decisions by providing the supporting principles behind compliance notes (these appear in italics at the end of the note where required). We hope this will also broaden the awareness of the sound basis for sustainable solutions among all stakeholders.
The Knowledge Base will continue to be populated with new CNs as a result of any technical and process query submitted to BRE. Licensed assessors should continue to submit technical queries directly to BRE for any technical question not currently addressed by the scheme manual or this Knowledge Base.
You can view/download/print all the KB Compliance Notes for a single issue by clicking the button next to the issue title.
Tips
Use the Navigation Menu to access content for a specific scheme and issue, this is the fastest route. It will also allow you to move quickly to another issue.
Click on the Compliance Note (CN) title to see the content of the CN itself.
Each CN has a unique reference eg KBCN0428 which can be quoted in reports.
The search function searches only for content in CN title, CN content and for a unique reference number (ie not scheme, category or issue).
Also try out the Beta Dashboards available to assessors via the forum here
Latest 100 Notes
- Labelling and signage – Shell only/Shell & core assessments
- External works – waste reporting requirements
- Granular fill and capping
- Sound insulation measurement standard
- Reward Scale for UKNC LE04
- SABRE Registered Professional as a Suitably Qualified Security Specialist (SQSS)
- Private parking – number of Electric Vehicle Charging Points (EVCPs) per home
- Ecology and Biodiversity section in the building owner information
- Role of the SQE in planning and measures on-site
- Erratum – Credits for ‘Discharges directly to a tidal estuary or the sea’
- Building LCA – ‘Baseline’ and ‘Integrated’ approaches
- Building LCA – Alternative designs resulting in options for single or multiple group elements
- Private transport measures – no car parking provision
- Transport assessments and transport statements
- New Fees – FS036 Rev28 – effective from 1st December 2019
- Erratum – ‘Communal space’ definition – 2.5 Recreational Space
- Minimum ventilation rate above boost flow rate
- Uniclass codes
- Table 7.3 AI and number of points achieved
- Energy monitoring and management systems and small useful floor areas
- ‘Monitoring progress and providing feedback’ methodology section
- Free-standing recycling bins
- Improvements to pre-assessment tools
- Government Buying Standards for Water
- Guidance Note 40 to be updated
- Guidance Note 35 withdrawn
- View out – Shell only/Shell & Core
- Historic buildings – maximum credits available
- Calculation of greenfield run-off rates
- Exemption from meeting the optional standard for a particular water fitting
- Using BREEAM certification mark
- Using BREEAM logos
- Using BREEAM badges of recognition
- BREEAM Logos, Marks and Badges
- Thermal modelling – buildings with mixed-mode ventilation
- Thermal modelling – naturally ventilated buildings with heating for the winter months
- RICS category for roof terraces
- Learning Mat 01
- Industrial buildings – operational areas
- Sub-metering of high energy load and tenancy areas – existing building systems
- Laboratory facilities not restricted to building type
- Daylighting – calculation procedures
- Demand-based bus services in AI calculation
- Testing laboratory certification
- Ene 01: Minimum standard for Excellent
- Mat 01 EPD uplift calculation
- Responsible sourcing – Apportioning areas within a building
- Classifying lines of trees not part of a continuous hedge
- Green roofs – habitat distinctiveness
- Protecting vulnerable parts of the building from damage – underground car parks
- Only lifts in building are for persons with impaired mobility
- Adequate external storage when there is a compliant collection scheme in place
- Gardens finished
- Converting a non-habitable room into a habitable room
- All insulation material have a Green Guide rating of A or A+
- SAP box number for the energy efficiency rating (EER)
- Control systems for external lighting
- Shared cycle storage between two apartment blocks
- Flexible handover visit
- Broken chain of custody for legally harvested timber
- Aligning with other relevant requirements
- Connection during handover not possible
- Heating zones
- Other smart controls
- Heat pumps
- Off-site construction
- Alternative certification schemes LZCTs options
- Building assessed as part of a larger development
- District heating connected after post-construction stage
- Commissioning certificates – evidence
- Portable display device
- Early product procurement policy
- Growing space on request
- Public transport node distance
- Targeting ecology issues using a mixture of routes
- Scope of hard landscaping
- Validity of consumption data
- Sound testing between rooms
- District Heating
- Decorative gas/ethanol fires
- Determining the number of bedspaces in a home
- Sound Insulation testing for Cupboards
- Pre-testing apartment blocks
- Responsible Construction Practices -Crit 1
- External water consumption
- Accuracy of life cycle cost projections
- Training courses that provide competencies to be considered an AQP
- Oil-fired boilers benchmarks
- On site fabrication
- No relevant areas for room acoustics
- Transport measures on masterplan level
- Warranties covered by alternative consumer codes
- Post occupancy evaluation commitments as design stage evidence
- Homeowner’s report
- Homeowner’s life cycle cost report
- Project preparation criteria for assessments starting after RIBA stage 3
- Construction inspections and record evidence for homes
- Water quality credits clarification
- GN33 has been updated
- Home information – certificate after occupant moves in