When assessing a site with no ecological features, pre-development, the “BREEAM-CEEQUAL-HQM-Change-in-Ecological-Value-Calculator” tool available in BREEAM Projects, can be used to calculate the percentage biodiversity net gain from a zero baseline.
This method caps the percentage biodiversity net gain, so the maximum number of credits that can be achieved using this approach is as follows:
- BREEAM UK New Construction 2018/V6 = 3 credits
- BREEAM UK New Construction Residential V6.1 / Home Quality Mark = 6 Credits
- BREEAM Infrastructure V6 = 30 Credits
The cap on percentage biodiversity net gain seeks to ensure comparability between assessments, as it may be easier to achieve a high score from a zero baseline.
