2013

Electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS) – Priority spaces - KBCN1429

The current criteria for EVCS do not address provision for priority spaces, such as those allocated to disabled use and car sharing. The assessor and design team should, therefore, take a pragmatic approach to this and, where the overall number of required EVCS permits, an appropriate proportion of these should be provided for priority spaces. This will not be deemed as 'double-counting' as the number of EVCS required should be considered independently of other requirements. The intent is that electric vehicle charging spaces are available to all building users (where possible).

Flood Risk Assessment older than five years - KBCN1744

This sentence appears in the definition of ‘Flood Risk Assessment’: Where more than five years have passed since the FRA was carried out, evidence would be required to demonstrate that the basis of the FRA has not changed in that time. The requirement for evidence that the basis of the FRA has not changed where more than five years have passed is applicable only at Design Stage. It is not required at Post Construction Stage where a compliant FRA was undertaken at Design Stage and the development was carried out in accordance with that design.

Home office services – requirement for telephone points - KBCN1808

Due to changes in technology, telephone points are no longer a requirement where the property is provided with a broadband connection.

Multiple assets on a wider site - KBCN1065

For one or more buildings / units assessed as part of a wider site or campus, compliance can be demonstrated through either:

The provision of dedicated centralised storage space and waste management facilities.
One of the accepted scenarios in KBCN0696.

In all cases the waste storage solution must have the capacity to accommodate the recyclable waste material generated from all buildings and their activities.

30-Mar-2026 - Added text to align with KBCN0696. Scheme applicability updated.
26-Mar-2018 - Published.

Prerequisite – Reused temporary site timber - KBCN1769

Timber formwork or scaffold boards, that are being reused and are verified as such, can be excluded from the criteria. It is more sustainable to reuse existing timber than to potentially promote the use of virgin timber just to ensure responsible sourcing paperwork is available, which may be logistically hard to obtain for reused timber.

Time critical requirements – Concept / Technical Design stages - KBCN1711

The intent of the criteria relating to project stages in BREEAM is to ensure that actions are taken at a time when they can have the intended influence. Where projects are following these defined stages via a traditional procurement route, referring to the project programme and work stages are a robust and convenient way to demonstrate that the intent is met. However, not all projects will follow these work stages. In such cases, the project can show that the intent is met by demonstrating that, for the relevant BREEAM requirement, the activity has happened when the project is at an appropriate stage of development. Concept Design The project stage at which fundamental aspects of the design are developed.

What has happened already: the architectural concept is established.
What is in progress: the design is undergoing spatial coordination and design development for detailed planning approval.
- Detailed planning approval is an approval that covers all major aspects of the asset's external appearance and form. Typically this means the detailed massing, external materials, and site layout are confirmed.
- Achieving outline planning permission does not mean that the project has left Concept Design. An outline approval is an approval for architectural concept but with many of the above details still missing, and yet to be developed.

Technical Design Once a detailed planning application has been submitted, many aspects of the design will be fixed, and the project is at Technical Design stage.

What has happened already: full planning approval has been granted.
What is in progress: detailed spatial coordination and developed design information is being used to develop the information needed to construct the asset.

Depending on the procurement route, there may be an overlap between technical design and the construction phase of the works. Additional guidance Sometimes different aspects of the design might be at different project stages. KBCN1156 gives detailed guidance on how to define the project stage for each construction element, based on the design information available for that element. Although it was originally written specifically to address Mat 01 LCA for UK NC 2018 and V6, it may be useful in other situations.

View out – communal lounges, living rooms and bedrooms - KBCN1828

The default criteria for these space types requires relevant positions to be within 5m of an opening. Where larger spaces are ≥ 50m2 NIA, the standard view out criteria for the relevant scheme is applied instead. The 5m rule is intended for small scale domestic spaces where proximity to a view out is beneficial. This KBCN recognises that for larger relevant spaces in Residential, Multi-Residential and Residential Institution asset types, a scalable approach in line with commercial buildings is more appropriate.