Untreated/unoccupied buildings and structures – Applicability of BREEAM

BREEAM has been developed to assess the environmental performance of buildings that are designed, in whole or in part, for human occupation. Buildings that comprise only unoccupied spaces, such as multi-storey car parks, storage facilities and changing/WC blocks, which have no spaces occupied continuously for more than 30 mins, cannot undergo a stand-alone BREEAM assessment.

Assessment against BREEAM New Construction and BREEAM Refurbishment and Fit-out may be of limited value for buildings that do not incorporate environmental systems to treat spaces for human occupation. As a guide, if Approved Document Part L is not applicable to the building, it is likely that BREEAM will be unsuitable.

Civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping, public realm projects, and unoccupied assets such as multi-storey car parks may, however, be suitable for assessment using BREEAM Infrastructure (formerly CEEQUAL). For more information, please see the BREEAM Infrastructure webpages.

Please note that data centres should be assessed using BREEAM Data Centres, regardless of whether they include occupied spaces.

16 Jun 2021 - Clarified and updated to incorporate the content of KBCN0873
14 Oct 2022 - Updated following rebrand of CEEQUAL to BREEAM Infrastructure