Communities - BREEAM Knowledge Base

Community transport schemes in rural areas - KBCN00013

In rural areas, where scheduled public services are insufficient to gain credits via the calculation of the Accessibility Index, community transport schemes, including 'on-demand services', can be used to achieve the 'dedicated bus service' option. In such cases evidence must be provided to demonstrate:

It serves a rural area
It is available to all potential users
The service is established at the time of the assessment being submitted
The service is of an appropriate scale for the community it serves

Content reworded to highlight the availability of the on-demand service to all potential users. 24/04/2017

Compliance: Applicability of criteria to subsequent schemes’ versions - KBCN0554

When assessing a project under a certain scheme, criteria or compliance notes from a previous scheme cannot be used to demonstrate compliance.

Compliance: Applicability of criteria to scheme’s previous versions - KBCN0430

Criteria set for a scheme version are not applicable retrospectively to previous versions.

Compliance: Conflicts of interest for the BREEAM assessor - KBCN0107

The assessor can be someone within the design team or work for the same company as the design team member(s) but the assessor must identify and manage any potential conflicts of interest. The assessor should also make BRE Global aware of the situation so that, should it prove appropriate, the certification report can be escalated to a more detailed level of quality assurance checking. If the assessor is a member of the company who are producing evidence to demonstrate compliance, there must be clear separation of the roles and the BREEAM/HQM assessor must not be personally responsible for producing such evidence. BREEAM/HQM is a 3rd party certification scheme. Therefore, it is important to avoid any conflicts of interest between those producing evidence and those awarding credits to ensure the robustness of the certification process.

Compliance: Statutory requirements - KBCN0395

BREEAM is an assessment method which promotes best practice in sustainable buildings. Matters critical to health and safety, as well as any mandatory requirements from statutory authorities which conflict with BREEAM criteria may take precedence over BREEAM requirements. In this instance, evidence would be required to demonstrate that this is the case. Note, this does not change the criteria requirements, and where BREEAM requirements are not met the design team must explore alternative options or specifications if the relevant credits are to be awarded.

17/04/18 Wording amended to clarify

Compliant attenuated noise levels - KBCN00047

BS 4142 noise level requirements can be used to demonstrate compliance provided the best practice testing methodologies for noise attenuation outlined in BS 7445 are followed.

Confirmation of version / year of technical standards - KBCN0519

When providing evidence of compliance it is important for design teams to clearly refer to the version and / or year of the standard being complied with for an assessment. The issue / release / adoption of standards sets the requirements appropriate at the time of publication of the BREEAM scheme documentation. A standard may be updated in between BREEAM re-issues and updates so the standard cited in the requirements or the most current version of a standard can be applied. This applies to standards such as National (e.g. British) Standards, HTM documents, Environment Agency and Policy Planning Guidelines etc. Where the current version of the standard differs notably from the cited standard in the manual, it is the role of the assessor or design team to verify that it is equivalent or more robust than the original requirement. Evidence failing to demonstrate this will be result in raising of a non-conformance within QA and will delay certification. See also: KBCN0747 Equivalent standard use

23/08/17 Merged with “Superseded standards and evidence referenced” KBCN0453

Contaminated Land- Presence of radon gas - KBCN0155

Naturally occurring radon is not considered as contamination in relation to BREEAM. However, where radioactive substances have been introduced as a consequence of human activities, that land would then be considered to be ‘contaminated with radioactivity’ and remediation of such contamination would fall under the scope of the relevant BREEAM issue.

Cycle spaces – Folding bicycles and scooters - KBCN00024

The provision of cycle storage that is only suitable for folding bicycles or scooters is not compliant. Providing reduced storage space for folding bicycles or scooters in place of compliant cycle storage may limit future travel options.

14 03 2018 Wording clarified and reference to scooters included.

Cycle spaces – Prominent location - KBCN00053

The requirement to provide cycle storage facilities in a prominent location on site, within view of building users, is intended to encourage use through advertising their presence to building users. Providing these facilities inside the assessed building, such as in the basement, may be compliant so long as there is prominent signage to indicate their location to all building users.

Cyclist safe access - KBCN0188

Safe access for cyclists must be via a compliant cycle lane, unless it is demonstrated that it would be impractical to cycle for a short distance between the site entrance and cycle storage. For example, where a gate, door or barrier forces the cyclist to dismount and walk for a short distance to access the cycle storage and it would be impractical for cyclists to re-mount. Where it is not practical to provide compliant cycle lane from the entrance to the cycle storage, the safety of cyclists and pedestrians must be maintained.

21/02/2020 Re-worded to clarify the intent

Cyclists’ facilities – Visitors - KBCN00014

Where the cycle spaces requirement is based on the number of staff plus visitors, customers or patients, the number of cyclist facilities required to demonstrate compliance is based on the number of cycle spaces for staff only. Visitors, customers or patients would not be expected to have access to showers and lockers within a building.

Dedicated cycle paths in the absence of cycle facilities - KBCN00039

Safe cycle access needs to be provided even if there are no dedicated cycle facilities. The dedicated cycle paths will generally need to be provided to the main entrance(s) of the building along routes likely to be used by cyclists through the site. The design team are required to determine what is required to satisfy the intent of the criteria. Cycle access and cyclists' facilities are assessed independently of each other. Building users may cycle even if the building does not have cycle storage facilities and so safe and secure access to and from the building must be provided.

Energy consumption and carbon emissions of untreated spaces - KBCN00049

Where the assessment contains a mix of treated and untreated spaces, untreated spaces can be excluded and the performance based on the treated spaces only. Where the entire assessment is untreated, the whole of the structure(s) must be assessed on the basis that this issue is critical for certification. BREEAM is primarily designed to assess permanent, treated and occupied structures. Untreated structures are unlikely to gain many credits when being assessed.

Erratum – Criterion 9 – Indoor ambient noise - KBCN1569

The wording of criterion 9 is incorrect and should read as follows: 9. The developer commits to achieve indoor ambient noise levels in buildings and, where appropriate, external noise levels 5dB (or a meaningful and reasonable dB) below the “reasonable” targets set out in BS8233 or other appropriate good practice standards or regulations. This will be corrected in the next reissue of the technical manual.

Excluding excavation waste from ‘Diversion of resources from landfill’ - KBCN0226

Excavation waste should not be included and assessed against the requirements under ‘Diversion of resources from landfill’. This also applies to BREEAM Communities RE05 - 3rd/4th credits.

Exemptions from hard landscaping and boundary protection - KBCN00062

Where a third party, such as the local authority, enforces strict constraints on the materials that can be used by the project for hard landscaping or boundary protection, and these materials do not achieve a Green Guide rating of A/A+, it is possible to exempt these materials from the assessment of this issue, on the condition that robust evidence confirming this is given. In this instance the developer does not have control over the materials specified, therefore it is not appropriate to include them in the assessment.

GN29: Comparing criteria and evidential crossover between BREEAM Communities and building level assessment methodologies - KBCN0987

This document helps clarify the areas where compliance with BREEAM Communities can help to show compliance with criteria at Home Quality Mark (HQM) and BREEAM building level assessments from new construction to refurbishment and fit out. BREEAM Communities scheme offers a strategic approach to assess the environmental, social and economic sustainability of large scaled developments and masterplanning projects. This is the stage and scale where there are opportunities to increase sustainability across the entire site and for individual buildings through economies of scale, site-wide solutions and greater flexibility in design decisions. In turn, when it comes to later lifecycle stages of the development and assessing individual buildings under BREEAM or HQM, these solutions can be used to secure a higher score and rating where relevant. View full Guidance Note (licensed assessors only) View all Guidance Notes (licensed assessors only)

Good practice consultation methods – Clarification of CN1 - KBCN1563

To meet the Mandatory Requirement detailed in Criteria 1-3, and to achieve 1 credit (Criteria 4 and 5), only the first two points of CN1 must be met: Good practice consultation should include that the local community and stakeholders have been:

informed about the proposal (e.g. public notices and adverts)
consulted with for their opinion on the development brief

To achieve 2 credits (Criteria 6 and 7), the following four points of CN1 must also be met: Good practice consultation should include that the local community and stakeholders have been:

involved in developing a range of options in a timely manner
asked to select their preferred option from a range of proposals
involved in the preparation of their preferred proposal (e.g. through workshops or participative processes)
involved in the production of guidelines for the development of this proposal

Pre-demolition audit/(pre-refurbishment) on other structures and hard surfaces - KBCN00045

A pre-demolition/(pre-refurbishment) audit is required where any existing buildings, structures or hard surfaces are present on a development site. The intent of the pre-demolition/(pre-refurbishment) audit is to ensure that any potentially useful materials are considered for re-use or diversion from landfill, not just materials resulting from buildings.

22.11.17 Reference added to the pre-refurbishment audit for RFO assessments.

Process Notes - KBCN0611

Process notes can be accessed by licensed assessors here. When a new process note has been released, you may be required to tick the box to confirm you have read the note to be able to access other documents in BREEAM Projects. To do this scroll to the bottom of the Process Note index page and tick the box and click next.

Restricted movement within a secure perimeter - KBCN000009

Where the movement of pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles is tightly controlled within a secure perimeter due to security considerations, these areas may be excluded from the safe access criteria. Where the whole assessment is within such a zone, the credit may be awarded by default.

Solid concrete washout - KBCN00063

Solid concrete washout waste should be included in the waste resource efficiency benchmarks.

Technical: Location of scheme technical documents - KBCN00022

All scheme technical manuals are available to view and download on the BREEAM website. Click here.. Always refer to the BREEAM website to make sure that you have access to the most up-to-date version of the relevant scheme technical manual.

Temporary power solutions in noise impact assessments - KBCN0171

Plants such as standby generators that are only used temporarily are excluded from the noise impact assessment.

Tools: Use of reissued tools - KBCN0384

The most up-to-date version of an excel tool should be downloaded from the BREEAM Assessor's Extranet when a new assessment is started. If an updated tool is subsequently released then it will not be necessary to use the updated tool instead of the version already being used. The assessor can choose to use the updated tool if they wish. When new tool versions are released, assessors are notified through the monthly Process Note. We would expect Assessors to review the 'Schedule of Changes' tab when an updated tool is released. If fundamental changes have been made to the tool and they will affect the results for the issue in question please contact BRE for guidance.

Tram services - KBCN000004

Tram services are classified as train services when assessing transport accessibility.

Using BRE SMARTWaste tool - KBCN0236

BRE SMARTWaste may be helpful in demonstrating the construction waste benchmarks; however its use is not compulsory to achieve the credits. Reference to the SMARTWaste tool has been included in the issue as an example of a tool that can be used to manage and monitor waste generated during construction.