Refurbishment and Fit Out / International / 2015 /

09 - Pollution

Information correct as of 21stDecember 2024. Please see kb.breeam.com for the latest compliance information.

Achieving a reduction in noise levels where background levels are low - KBCN1692

Where existing background levels are low, such as during night-time, there is no dispensation or flexibility that can be applied in achieving the requirements.  The aim of the issue is to reduce the potential impact of noise from the assessed building to local noise-sensitive buildings.  Acoustic experts have confirmed that the requirements for the background noise levels are still appropriate where existing levels are low, including where a 5dB reduction is stated within the criteria.

Adoption of road in the development - KBCN0331

Where a development includes roads, these are often adopted by a statutory authority (for example the Highways agency or the local authority in the UK). Where the authority will be taking responsibility for the roads, the following guidance should be followed to determine if the water run-off from the roads needs to be considered as part of the assessment: Where the authority will NOT be taking responsibility for the roads, the BREEAM criteria should be followed for all drainage on site.  

Applicability of prerequisite - KBCN1072

The prerequisite must be met in order to award any credits where refrigerants are used. It is also applicable when the 'leak detection' credit is awarded on the basis of the refrigerant charge being less than 6kg. For refurbishment projects, this pre-requisite applies only to newly specified or upgraded systems in the scope of works. 
10.08.22 Added clarification for RFO projects.

Backup or emergency heating systems - KBCN0936

NOx calculations should be based on permanent heating systems and should not include backup systems used for maintenance or in emergencies. BREEAM assessments measure the as designed performance level of the building as it normally functions.

Campus with multiple building assessments - KBCN0597

If a campus development project has multiple building assessments being built in conjunction with each other, each building should be assessed independently.  Where there are noise sensitive buildings; including any new buildings in the process of being built, the criteria requirements must still be met.

CHP NOx emission conversion - KBCN0592

If the CHP manufacturer cannot provide the NOx emissions in mg/kWh it is not possible to award any credits. The CHP manufacturer must provide the NOx emissions in mg/kWh, the conversion factors provided in the Technical Manual can only be used for boilers.

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.    

District cooling – Used in combination with local cooling - KBCN1634

Where district cooling can be considered outside the scope of the assessment, either in accordance with the Methodology section of the technical manual or in line with KBCN0759, compliance must be based on calculating the DELC for all systems. However, where the district cooling system is exempt from assessment, as described above, this should be based on a GWP of zero for the district cooling system.

District cooling systems - KBCN0759

Where a district cooling facility is servicing the assessed building, the building will have an environmental impact in terms of refrigerants, albeit in this case indirectly. As such the district cooling system must be considered against the BREEAM criteria for refrigerants. Where connection to an off-site district cooling system, over which the developer has no control, is mandated by a local authority or other statutory body, the maximum number of credits can be awarded for Issue Pol 01. However, where this is not mandatory and the developer has the option whether to connect, regardless of encouragement or incentives by the local authority, the district cooling system must be considered against the BREEAM criteria for refrigerants to award the credits. 
07 Dec 2023 - This KBCN is not applicable to UK NC2018 or UK NC V6 - Guidance is provided in the Methodology section of the technical manual.
27/04/2017: Clarified the number of credits awarded

District heating systems - KBCN0979

District heating systems serving the assessed building must be assessed for NOx emissions. 
14-Dec-24 - Wording clarified.
07-Dec-17 - Reference to NOx emissions clarified

District heating systems which off-set grid electricity - KBCN0857

District heating systems which incinerate waste usually have NOx emissions higher than the levels set to achieve any BREEAM credits. However, where a district heating system also generates electricity, this can be used to off-set NOx emissions from grid electricity. In such cases, the calculation methodology for CHP systems can be used to calculate NOx emissions for the district heating network.

Emissions – measuring heating demand - KBCN0182

Emissions for all heat sources should be measured under normal operating conditions which are when all heat sources from the building plant are operating to their maximum design heat outputs to meet the building's heating demands. Where plant is designed to operate below maximum capacity, for example multiple or modular systems or standby boilers,the emissions should still be calculated for the plant operating to meet the building’s heating demand. Any redundant capacity or standby plant should not be included.  

Existing plant – Noise impact assessment - KBCN0640

The existing background noise level should not include existing plant associated with the assessed building (criterion 2.a.i). Both existing and newly specified externally mounted plant should be considered within the noise impact assessment as part of the ‘rating noise level’ (criterion 2.a.ii). However, for Part 2 only and Part 3 only assessments, as indicated in the relevant CNs within the manual, only the noise impact of existing or new externally mounted plant specified within the scope of that Part is to be considered. For example, in a Part 3 only assessment, where existing plant forms part of the core services and new plant is installed as part of the local services, only the impact of the noise generated by the new plant should be considered. The existing plant noise should be included as part of the existing background levels. Issue Pol 05 assesses the impact of existing and newly specified externally mounted plant and the impact of any fabric measures on reducing the impact of noise on any nearby noise-sensitive buildings. Its applicability is relevant to all treated buildings where Part 1 is included, even where the existing plant is not being upgraded and is scope dependent when Part 2 or Part 3 only assessments are carried out. 
13.08.18 KBCN content amended to include consideration of Part 2 or Part 3 only assessments.
This will be clarified in the next manual re-issue.
03.11.2021 Issue 2.0 of the UK RFO technical manual amended.

External lighting inside wider building - KBCN0906

Where a building undergoing assessment is located inside of another building, for example a retail unit within a shopping centre, Ene 03 External lighting and Pol 04 Reduction of night time light pollution should be assessed as follows; Ene 03 'External lighting' that is inside of the wider building, using the example above the lighting is external of the retail unit itself but inside of the wider shopping centre, criteria relating to the luminous efficacy should be applied as presented within the manual. For the criteria relating to controlled for prevention of operation during daylight hours and presence detection in areas of intermittent pedestrian traffic, however, instead of demonstrating that the lighting is not operational during daylight hours, it should be demonstrated that the lighting is not operational outside of the operational hours of the wider shopping centre. Any external lighting within the scope of works being assessed that is located outside of the wider shopping centre, for example if the retail unit had an entrance or exit that leads on to the street outside, this would need to be assessed against the criteria presented within the manual. Pol 04 If the building undergoing assessment has no external lighting that is outside of the wider building, it can be considered that the building has no external lighting. However, as above, any external lighting within the scope of works of the assessment that is located outside of the wider building will need to be assessed as the criteria is presented within the manual. 
10/05/2019 Reference to specific criteria numbers removed and made applicable to UK NC2018

Flood risk – Site situated across numerous flood zones - KBCN0532

Where a site is situated across more than one flood zone, the flood zone with the highest probability of flooding, i.e. the worst case scenario, must be considered for the purpose of the BREEAM assessment. An exception to this would be where the areas in the higher probability zone include only soft landscaping and it can be demonstrated that access to the building will be maintained in a flooding event. This is to ensure that the site has adequately managed the worst case scenario level of flood risk associated with the site's location.  
22/07/2022 Applicability to HQM One confirmed
07/03/2018 Updated to include circumstances where an exception may apply.

FRA more than 5 years old - KBCN1580

Where more than five years have passed since the FRA was carried out, to be able to use the FRA in your assessment evidence would be required to demonstrate that the basis of the FRA has not changed in that time.

Freestanding commercial fridges and freezers - KBCN0577

Freestanding commercial fridges and freezers must be included in the assessment of the Pol 01 issue, even when they are not connected to the building cooling system. Only domestic white goods are excluded from the assessment of this issue.

Heat pumps powered by renewable energy - KBCN0422

Where renewable energy is used partially to offset grid electricity in heat pumps, this can contribute towards a reduction in equivalent NOx emissions. To account for seasonal variations in renewable energy generation, this must be calculated over the course of a year.

Hot water supplied by grid electricity - KBCN0549

Where grid electricity is used to supply the hot water heating system, the NOx emissions will be the same as that stated in the guidance for any other heating systems.

Impact of refrigerant – Refrigerants with low GWP - KBCN1472

Where systems only use refrigerants with GWP ≤ 10 The Pol 01 calculator does not have to be completed. Providing evidence of the compliant systems and refrigerants used is enough to award maximum credits for impact of refrigerant. Mix of systems with GWPs below and above 10 The Pol 01 calculator does have to be completed. The calculator must include systems with GWP ≤ 10 to ensure credits are based on the average value across all systems. 
20-Dec-2023 Updated to include scenarios where there is a mix of systems with GWP above and below 10.

International suitably qualified professionals - KBCN1266

In some issues the International NC and RFO schemes prescribe specific requirements for suitably qualified professionals. We appreciate that some countries might have different recognition schemes in place, and these might differ from the BREEAM requirements. Where this is the case, assessors should submit a technical query with appropriate information, and we will review and approve each situation on a country basis.

Leak detection system based on pressure changes - KBCN0326

A system that uses pressure changes to detect leaks is not necessarily compliant. To be deemed compliant the leak detection system would need to monitor the refrigerant pressure and the operating conditions to address the problem of natural fluctuation.

LZC technologies – energy centre or other LZCs connected at a later stage - KBCN0267

If a project specifies LZCs that have been proposed in the feasibility report which reduce emissions, and/or will be connected to a site-wide energy centre operational at a later stage of the phased development, after the Post Construction Stage review has been submitted, the Energy and Pollution issues can be assessed as follows: In a phased development where the primary heating system will be upgraded at a later stage than the building being assessed, a commitment to install the new heating source must be made in the General Contract Specification (as per the BREEAM requirements). BREEAM does not specify a particular time for phasing as it is difficult to set parameters, however as a rule building users should have to wait the least time possible before they can use the upgraded heating source. For the quality audit, two Energy model outputs/EPCs must be produced at the final stage - one with the actual interim system installed for building control, and one for the BREEAM assessment which can include the predicted energy from the proposed energy centre.  Additionally, the legally binding general contract specification for the new heating source must be submitted with details of the timescales proposed for the completion of the second phase of work. Where this approach is to be followed BREEAM must be consulted in each case to ensure that the arrangements are sufficiently robust to award the credits. BREEAM seeks to recognise the environmental impacts of a building's energy use throughout its life, therefore temporary arrangements can be accommodated, provided there is robust evidence on future connection to the permanent systems. 
24/08/2022 - Applicability to UKNC V6 confirmed

Manufacturer’s information – system specific data - KBCN0926

The BREEAM technical manual provides a set of default figures, for use within the DELC calculation. Where available, system-specific data, provided by the manufacturer, can be used in the calculation where this is more representative. Any such system-specific figures used must be supported by publicly available, published data, which substantiates the manufacturer’s figures.

Minimising water course pollution – no water courses present - KBCN0550

The credit for 'minimising water course pollution' has to be assessed even in cases where no water courses are in close vicinity to the site under assessment. This is because the aim of this credit is to encourage developments to minimise water course pollution by restricting the discharge of potentially contaminated water from entering the public sewer. Minimising water course pollution does not focus on water directly entering water courses.

Missing criterion – external lighting standards - KBCN0883

The following criterion, included in the BREEAM INC 2013 scheme, was omitted in error from the BREEAM IRFO 2015 and BREEAM INC 2016.
  1. The external lighting strategy has been designed in compliance with the limits set for light technical parameters in section 2.7 of CIE 150-2003 and table 2 of CIE 126-1997.
Projects registered after the announcement of this KBCN in the July 2017 Process Note must comply with this and other relevant criteria within Pol 04 in order to achieve the credit. 
Technical manual to be updated accordingly in next reissue.

No discharge for up to 5mm rainfall - KBCN0599

The criterion requires no run-off to leave the developed site into the local watercourse(s) for a storm event that results in rainfall depths up to 5mm.  It is not acceptable to collect the rainfall within an attenuation tank and allow the runoff to be released from the site at a restricted rate. This simply slows the rate at which it is released to the watercourse(s). Compliance should be based upon zero runoff from the first 5mm rainfall for 80% of events during summer and 50% in winter.  This is in line with the recommendations within Chapter 24.8 of The SuDs Manual (C753), CIRIA 2015. The 5mm rainfall event is considered one of the most common rainfall events and, therefore, a system should be designed to prevent this run-off leaving the site thus protecting a receiving watercourse from pollution. Where ground conditions prohibit the use of SuDs techniques to manage the rainfall onsite or it is not be possible for the first 5mm of rainfall to be prevented from leaving a site completely.  An appropriately qualified professional must explain comprehensively why this criterion cannot be fully met and design a system to meet the intent of this criterion as far as possible. Where this can be justified and all other relevant criteria have been achieved, the credit can still be awarded. 
16.08.2024 Clarification added on calculation requirements and text from KBCN1059 now included.

No external plant specified - KBCN0931

Where there is no external plant specified and the acoustician confirms that there is no significant noise source, it is acceptable for the acoustician to provide a formal statement in lieu of the noise impact assessment. All other evidence for this issue must be provided as listed in the Evidence table. The formal statement should be produced by a 'suitably qualified acoustician' (as defined in the Relevant Definitions for this issue) and should justify this approach with reference to the specific internal plant to be installed and the proximity of any noise sensitive areas or buildings. The statement must explain clearly how the aim of the issue is being met.

No refrigerant use – Part 4 only assessments - KBCN1540

Where there is no use of refrigerants in a Part 4 only assessment, this issue is filtered out. 3 credits are not awarded by default.

No refrigerant use – shell & core assessments - KBCN1058

The credits for Pol 01 can be awarded if the asset requires no refrigerants as per the criteria. In speculative assessments, future tenant systems are unknown. To award the credits, evidence must show that the asset has been designed to operate without the need for air-conditioning or comfort cooling for the conditioning of occupied spaces. One way to demonstrate this is to achieve the ‘Free cooling’ credit. Only refrigerants used for occupant comfort are assessed. Do not assess any refrigerant use for process-related functions. 
21.09.2021 Wording amended for clarity

Not enough rows in the Pol 01 calculator - KBCN1274

If additional rows are required in the calculator, it is acceptable to add the specification of multiple models together in one tool, provided they are the same model and have all the same inputs for columns F to M. The weighting of the systems across the building is done by the System Capacity and Total Refrigerant Charge (columns E and F), so you would multiply each of these two figures by the total number of the system specified. This gives the contribution of the systems to the building's cooling capacity and charge. If further rows are still required please submit a query using the webform in BREEAM Projects, attaching a copy of the tool and specify the number of additional rows required. 
08/10/21 link to webform added

Post construction noise level testing - KBCN00043

Noise level measurements do not need to be taken at the post construction stage if the acoustician has accurately modelled the noise level from the plant, using manufacturer's literature, and site measurements taken at the design stage. Any attenuation measures specified by the acoustician in their report must be confirmed as being present post construction. If the acoustician has been unable to model the noise level accurately, post construction measurements are needed to demonstrate compliance. Calculations and recommendations from the acoustician are relied on to be accurate and in keeping with best practice; attenuation measures are assumed to be specified and installed correctly.   

Reduction of night time light pollution – Night-time operation - KBCN0697

Note: This KBCN supersedes INC 2016/INC V6 Pol 04 CN3.1  During hours of operation between 23:00 and 07:00, lighting required for operational reasons does not have to be modified for BREEAM compliance. The aim of this Issue is to reduce light pollution by automatically switching off the external lighting or by complying with lower levels when the building is not in use.     
23 Jan 2023 - Note added to address conflict with INC Pol 04 CN3.1. KBCN title updated for consistency - The technical manual will be updated accordingly in the next re-issue
008 Mar 2018 Wording amended to add clarity.

Retained external lighting - KBCN0782

All external lighting within the construction zone, whether retained without alterations, retained with alterations or newly specified, must meet the requirements of Ene 03 and Pol 04. The aims of the two issues are to encourage the use of energy efficient external lighting and reduce night-time pollution and nuisance to neighbours from the assessed building. Even if new proposed lighting meets compliance, the existing lighting fixtures could have a high energy demand and result in night-time light pollution.

Reversible heat pump (VRF) providing both heating and cooling - KBCN0735

Where a reversible heat pump, which provides heating and cooling on reverse cycle with heat recovery, is used, the cooling capacity only should be used for the Direct Effect Life Cycle CO2e emissions (DELC) calculation. The cooling capacity of heat humps is normally less than the heating capacity, so compliance against the criteria will be based on the more challenging DELC value calculated.

Safety and security lighting – definition - KBCN0888

BRE does not provide a specific definition of safety and security lighting, as this could vary, depending on the project and location of the lighting. Together with the design team, the assessor is required to determine which lights are provided purely for safety and security purposes and which should be considered as general lighting.

Scope of different parts – Error in compliance note - KBCN1261

CN3 Includes the following error: 
Technical manual to be updated accordingly in next reissue.

Scope of issue – clarification – fixed installations - KBCN1660

The scope of this issue covers noise from external building services (or 'fixed installations' as written in the manual) serving areas designed for human comfort. The noise impact assessment excludes:

Scope of the refrigerant leak detection system - KBCN0530

The refrigerant leak detection system is required to cover any part of the plant or pipework which contains refrigerant. 
21/08/17 KBCN amended to include pipework containing refrigerant.

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.

Verification of measurements undertaken by non-SQA - KBCN1661

It is acceptable for individuals who do not meet the BREEAM definition of a suitably qualified acoustician (SQA) for Pol 05 to undertake the testing for this issue, provided the measurements or calculations are verified by a SQA. The SQA must review the report and confirm in writing that they have found it to:
  1. Represent sound industry practice
  2. Be appropriate given the building being assessed and scope of works proposed
  3. Avoid invalid, biased and exaggerated recommendations
Additionally, written confirmation from the SQA how they comply with the definition of a SQA is required.

Watercourse pollution from indoor parking - KBCN0545

If the design team can demonstrate that there will be absolutely no run-off from the indoor parking then the intent of the credit will be met. However, such proof would also have to demonstrate that no hydrocarbon spillage from vehicles found its way into the watercourse/sewer. It is likely that there would be water ingress from outside or that internal parking areas would have drains fitted and be cleaned regularly. In such conditions, the criteria are still applicable. The intent of this criteria is to ensure no hydrocarbons run off to any watercourse.

[KBCN Withdrawn] ~ Confirmation of low flood risk without an FRA - KBCN0582

The KBCN has been withdrawn and is no longer valid. This is because its content was created on the basis of a very specific case and should not be applied generally. The authority/organisation's confirmation is no more robust or detailed than reference to flood maps, which are not in themselves compliant without a FRA. 
KBCN withdrawn on 31/03/17:

Where a national or local authority/organisation has confirmed, in writing, that the site has a low risk of flooding from all sources and that a Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) is not required then this is acceptable and the two credits can be awarded.  The authority/organisation's written confirmation is a sufficient indication that an appropriate level of flood risk assessment has been completed.  Please note that the use of relevant flood maps without this additional confirmation from the authority/organisation is not acceptable.
Information correct as of 21stDecember 2024. Please see kb.breeam.com for the latest compliance information.