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Tra 03a Alternative modes of transport

(non-residential, and residential institutions only)

Number of credits available	Minimum standards
2	No

Aim

To provide facilities which encourage building users to travel using low carbon modes of transport and to minimise individual journeys.

Assessment criteria

The following is required to demonstrate compliance:

Up to two credits

One of the following options has been implemented:

Option

Criteria

Applicable building types

Credits

During the preparation of the brief the design team has consulted with the local authority on the state of the local cycling network and how the development could contribute to improving it.

One proposition has been chosen in agreement with the local authority and implemented. This proposition must be additional to what would have been done by the local authority without the support from the project and must have a significant impact on the local cycling network.

All

Negotiations with local bus companies have resulted in an increase of the local service provision in the development’s local area.

This increase in public transport service has improved the existing AI by at least 1.00 (see Tra 01 Public transport accessibility).

All

Electric recharging stations have been provided for at least 3% of the total car parking capacity for the building.

The design team can demonstrate electric vehicles using these charging points will have lower CO₂ emissions than their petrol or diesel counterparts.

All

A car sharing group or facility has been set up to facilitate and encourage building users to sign up to a car sharing scheme.

Marketing material has been developed to help raise awareness of the system and will be communicated to the tenants where applicable.

Priority spaces for car sharers are provided for at least 5% of the total car parking capacity for the building.

Priority spaces are located in the nearest available spaces in the nearest available parking area to the main building entrance on site.

All

Compliant cycle storage spaces that meet the minimum levels set out in Table 33 (see Checklists and tables) are installed.

All

Criterion 11 is achieved.

At least two of the following compliant facilities must be provided for the building users:

13.a

Compliant showers

13.b

Compliant changing facilities and lockers for clothes

13.c

Compliant drying space for wet clothes.

Office, industrial, preschool, school, higher education, university, other building type 1 and 2, retail, hotel, other building type 3

Exemplary level criteria

The following outlines the exemplary level criteria to achieve an innovation credit for this BREEAM issue.

Two of the options above have been fullyimplemented.

Checklists and tables

Table 33 Cycle storage criteria for each building type

Building type	No. spaces per unit of measure	Unit of measure	Notes
Commercial
Offices, Industrial	1	10 staff
Retail
Large retail	1	10 staff	The number of staff refers to the maximum number of employees working in the building at any time or shift. Both staff and customer cycle storage spaces must be provided in order to meet the criteria. Although they do not need to be separate, this is encouraged. A minimum of 10 customer cycle spaces is required. Where at least 50 customer cycle storage spaces are provided, this will comply with the criteria for the customer cycle spaces.
Large retail	1	20 public car parking spaces
Small retail	10	Total	The spaces must be publicly accessible within the proximity of a main building entrance. Compliant cyclist facilities are intended for staff only, i.e. it is not a requirement of compliance to provide facilities for customers.
Education
Preschool	1	10 staff
Primary school	5	Per class in year group	For example: where a primary school has been designed to accommodate three classes per year, a total of 15 compliant cycle storage spaces are provided for the whole school. Where there are varying numbers of forms or classes per year, the calculation must be based on the year with the greatest number of classes or forms.
Secondary schools and higher education	1	10 staff and pupils or students total	Student numbers must account for both under- and post-graduates, as well as PhD students and post-doctorates.
Residential institutions
Student residences	1	10 staff	The requirement is subject to a minimum of one compliant space being provided.
Student residences	1	2 residents
Sheltered housing, care homes, supported living facility*	1	10 staff	* Or spaces specified in accordance with the number required as identified by the likely resident profile. Where the resident profile is not the elderly or physically disabled or impaired then, where appropriate, the requirement for wheelchair or electric buggy spaces should be changed to compliant cycle spaces.
	1 compliant wheelchair or electric buggy storage space	10 residents*
Other buildings
Other building - Staffed*	Use the criteria defined for office buildings.
Other building - Visitors*	1	10 staff
	1	10 visitors or beds
Other buildings - Rural*	1	20 staff	A single credit can be awarded where spaces for staff only are provided as well as the appropriate compliant cyclist facilities. The compliance note allowing a reduction in the cyclist provision in rural locations has been accounted for in the unit of measure for this transport type. It should not therefore be applied again.
	1	20 building visitors or beds

*See relevant definitions in the BREEAM issue Tra 01 Public transport accessibility for classification of other buildings - Staffed, Visitors and Rural.

Compliance notes

Ref	Terms	Description
Shell and core (non-residential and residential institutions only)
CN1	Applicable assessment options	Both options: All criteria relevant to the building type and function apply. Refer to Appendix D – Shell and core project assessments for a more detailed description of the shell and core assessment options.
Residential - Partially fitted and fully fitted
CN2	Applicable assessment criteria - Single and multiple dwellings	Both options: This issue is not applicable to residential dwellings. Refer to Appendix E – Applicability of BREEAM New Construction to single and multiple dwellings, partially and fully fitted for a more detailed description of residential assessment options.
General
CN3	Number of building occupants unknown	If it is not possible to confirm the number of building occupants commuting to the development, possibly due to the speculative nature of the building, then the default occupancy rates given in the table in the Additional information section of BREEAM issue Tra 04 Maximum car parking capacity can be used to help determine a default number of users. Alternatively, the number of building occupants in an existing development of similar type and size can be used (the assessor needs to justify or validate the number used in their certification report).
CN3.1	Building types	Please see BREEAM issue Tra 01 Public transport accessibility to determine the building type. If assessing a bespoke building, please see the bespoke criteria appendix for confirmation.
CN3.2	More onerous requirements	Where local authorities require more onerous requirements than BREEAM (i.e. number of electric recharging stations or cycle spaces), these must be met in order to award the credits.
CN3.3	Existing compliant facilities and extensions to existing buildings	For assessments of new buildings on an existing site, where there are existing compliant facilities, such facilities can be assessed against the requirements of this issue. The number of existing compliant facilities must be large enough to cater for the building users of the assessed building, in addition to the users from any existing buildings.
CN3.4	Building locations with a high level of public transport accessibility	For sites where at least 50% of the available credits for BREEAM issue Tra 01 Public transport accessibility have been awarded (rounded to the nearest whole credit), the number of compliant cycle spaces can be reduced by 50%. This reduction will also reduce the requirement for compliant shower or lockers by the same margin.
CN3.5	Public bicycle sharing systems	Bicycle sharing systems are increasingly popular and diverse systems that have appeared over the past few years in major cities whereby a number of bicycles are made available for shared use among people who do not own a bicycle. The central concept of many of the systems is free or affordable access to bicycles for city transport in order to reduce the use of automobiles for short trips inside the city thereby diminishing traffic congestion, noise and air pollution. Up to 50% of the BREEAM cycle spaces requirement may be provided by a public bicycle sharing system where it complies with the following: The programme is implemented by the municipality or through a public–private partnership The system must be open to casual users who wish to use them for one-way rides to work, education or shopping centres Bicycles are available at unattended urban locations; and they operate in a manner that could be seen as 'bicycle transit' Service terminals must be available throughout the city The average distance between service terminals is 500m maximum in inner city areas A service terminal is available within 500m of the main building entrance The bicycle terminals do not need to comply with the design requirements listed in the definition of Compliant cycle storage. The number of compliant facilities is calculated based on the total number of cycle spaces required. For retail projects, public bicycle spaces can also count towards the number of customer cycle spaces required.
CN3.6	Rural locations	For sites in rural locations, where the average building user commuting distances are likely to be greater than 16 km, the number of compliant cycle spaces can be reduced by 50%. This reduction will also reduce the requirement for compliant showers and lockers by the same margin. A 50% reduction in this context cannot be applied in addition to either the 50% reduction due to the building’s Public Transport Accessibility level (as described in CN3.4). A rural location is defined in BREEAM issue Tra 01 Public transport accessibility
CN3.7	Minimum number of facilities	Where more than the minimum number of compliant cycle spaces is provided, it is not necessary to also provide more than the minimum number of showers or lockers or changing facilities.
Building type specific
CN4	Hotel	Where the term ‘building visitors’ is used this does not include guests staying at the hotel. However, it would include visitors to the conference facilities or restaurant or gym, etc. who are not staying in the hotel (where present).

Methodology

Sliding scale of compliance

To recognise the increased confidence in availability that occurs where there is larger scale provision of facilities, it is acceptable to reduce the provision requirement for building users by increasing the standard unit of measure (defined in Table 33

For buildings with more than 200 users but less than 300, the unit of measure can be increased by a ratio of 1.5.
For buildings with more than 300 users but less than 400, the unit of measure can be increased by a ratio of 2.
For buildings with more than 400 users, the unit of measure can be increased by a ratio of 2.5.

The calculation starts from the first 200 building users, with no ratio, and keeps going considering the ratio only for the remaining building users.

For example, an office building with 800 users would be required to provide the following number of cycle storage spaces:

1–200 users @ 1 space per 10 users = 20 spaces PLUS
201–300 users @ 1 space per 15 users (standard unit of measure x 1.5) = 7 spaces PLUS
301–400 users @ 1 space per 20 users (standard unit of measure x 2) = 5 spaces PLUS
401+ users @ 1 space per 25 users (standard unit of measure x 2.5) = 16 spaces
Total compliant cycle storage spaces required = 48 spaces.

The sliding scale of compliance does not apply to the following building types: small and large retail, primary schools, and residential institutions.

Minimum cycle storage provision

Where the calculated number of required cycle storage spaces is less than four, total provision should be based on the lower of the following:

A minimum of four compliant storage spaces must be provided OR
One space per user (staff and where appropriate other user groups).

Provision of cycle storage and facilities on site with multiple buildings

Where a new or infill building is constructed on an existing site, or multiple new buildings are to be constructed on the same site, compliance with this issue may be assessed based on the standalone building or on a site-wide basis. How this is determined depends on the configuration of the proposed cycle storage, cycle facilities and the interpretation and justification of the assessor.

Standalone approach

Where cycle storage and associated facilities are being provided for the assessed building only, the following applies:

Cyclist storage:

The number of cycle storage spaces is compliant based on the number of users in the assessed building.
All storage spaces provided must be BREEAM compliant and these must be located within, or in close proximity to the assessed building. It is clear from access arrangements, demarcation and positioning that the cycle storage provided is clearly associated with the assessed building only.
The sliding scale of compliance can be applied when determining the number of storage spaces required.

Cyclist facilities:

All new and existing facilities may be included provided they are BREEAM compliant.
Facilities should be located within the assessed building, or in an accessible adjacent building and for the sole use of the assessed building’s users.

Site-wide approach

Where cycle storage and associated facilities are provided and these would be accessible to all users of the entire site, or where there is a distinct group of local buildings within a site that would share facilities, the following applies:

Cyclist storage:

The number of cycle storage spaces is compliant based on the number of users on site or within a group of local buildings.
All new storage spaces must be BREEAM compliant. Existing storage spaces may also be counted, provided they allow bikes to be easily stored and removed with the ability to be locked securely to a compliant cycle space (see point 2 of compliant cycle storage, in the Relevant definitions).
The sliding scale of compliance can be applied when determining the number of storage spaces required.

Cyclist facilities:

The number of cyclist facilities is compliant based on the number of users on site who would be able to use these facilities.
Cyclist facilities may be located anywhere on site. However, the total route that cyclists must take to access the nearest cycle storage, cyclist facilities and building entrances must be no greater than 200m via a safe and convenient route, as measured from the first to the last point on the route. Where possible, different types of cyclist facilities should be grouped together in designated areas for ease of access and use.
All new and existing facilities may be included provided they are BREEAM compliant and conform to the 200m requirement above.

Combination of the two approaches

A mixture of the two approaches can be applied where cycle storage is delivered as a site-wide approach and facilities are being met for the assessed building only. However, a mixed approach cannot be applied where facilities are delivered as a site-wide approach and storage spaces are being met for the assessed building only.

Evidence

Ref	Design stage	Post-construction stage
All	Design drawings or relevant sections or clauses of the building specification or contract. Plus the following where relevant to the options selected: Assumptions and calculations used to determine the number of public users Consultation documentation Responses or actions to consultation feedback Marketing material Evidence or calculations supporting that CO₂ emissions from electric vehicles are lower than their petrol or diesel counterparts.	As design stage evidence. Assessor’s building or site inspection and photographic evidence confirming the installation of the compliant facilities. Plus timetables where relevant to the options selected. Where changes have occurred since the design stage that could affect compliance, full details of the changes are required to demonstrate compliance.

Ref

Design stage

Post-construction stage

All

Design drawings or relevant sections or clauses of the building specification or contract.

Plus the following where relevant to the options selected:

Assumptions and calculations used to determine the number of public users
Consultation documentation
Responses or actions to consultation feedback
Marketing material
Evidence or calculations supporting that CO₂ emissions from electric vehicles are lower than their petrol or diesel counterparts.

As design stage evidence.

Assessor’s building or site inspection and photographic evidence confirming the installation of the compliant facilities.

Plus timetables where relevant to the options selected.

Where changes have occurred since the design stage that could affect compliance, full details of the changes are required to demonstrate compliance.

Additional information

Relevant definitions

Additional building type classifications

See the BREEAM issue Tra 01 Public transport accessibility.

Compliant cycle storage

Compliant cycle storage facilities are those that meet the following:

Cycles can be secured within spaces, with fixings for one or more cycles. The fixings should allow both the wheel and frame to be locked securely. Spaces are covered overhead and the cycle spaces are set in or fixed to a permanent structure (building or hardstanding). Alternatively the cycle storage may be located in a locked structure fixed to, or part of, a permanent structure with appropriate surveillance
The distance between each cycle space, and cycle space and other obstructions, e.g. a wall, allows for appropriate access to the cycle storage space to enable bikes to be easily stored and accessed
The facilities are in a prominent site location that is viewable or overlooked from either an occupied building or a main access to a building. In the scenario where cycle storage spaces are within the building, prominent signage should be provided to advertise their location to building users and cyclists.
The cycle storage facility has adequate lighting; this could be demonstrated with the lighting criteria defined in BREEAM issue Hea 01 Visual comfort. The lighting must be controlled to avoid out-of-hours use and operation during daylight hours, where there is sufficient daylight in or around the facility.

Compliant showers

Compliant showers are defined as those that meet the following:

Provision of one shower for every 10 cycle storage spaces, subject to a minimum provision of one shower for staff. For secondary schools, a minimum of two spaces, one male and one female, for students is also required.
Any building providing eight showers or more will comply regardless of the number of cycle storage spaces provided
Both male and female users must be catered for, i.e. either separate showers within shared gender-specific facilities (required provision split 50-50) or single shower cubicles and changing space for mixed use
The showers do not need to be dedicated to cyclists and can be those shared with other users or uses.

Compliant changing facilities

Compliant changing facilities are defined as those that meet the following:

Appropriately sized for the likely or required number of users. The assessor should use their judgment to determine whether the changing area is appropriately sized given the number of cycle storage spaces or showers provided
Changing areas must include adequate space and facilities to hang or store clothing and equipment while changing or showering, e.g. bench seat or hooks
Toilet or shower cubicles cannot be counted as changing facilities.

Compliant lockers

Compliant lockers are defined as those that meet the following:

The number of lockers is at least equal to the number of cycle spaces required
Lockers are either in, or adjacent to, compliant changing rooms, where provided
The lockers are sized appropriately for the storage of a cyclist's equipment.

Compliant drying spaces

A compliant drying space is defined as a space that is specifically designed and designated with adequate heating or ventilation for the drying of wet clothes. A plant room, for example, is not a compliant drying space.

Other information

None.