Where a district heating facility is servicing the assessed building, the building will have an environmental impact in terms of emissions, albeit in this case indirectly. As such the district heating system must be considered against the BREEAM criteria for NOx emissions.
Where connection to an off-site district heating system, over which the developer has no control, is mandated by a local authority or other statutory body, the maximum number of credits available, depending on building type, can be awarded for this Issue. However, where this is not mandatory and the developer has the option whether to connect, regardless of encouragement or incentives, to award the credits the district heating system must be assessed against the BREEAM criteria.
07/12/17 Reference to NOx emissions clarified