BREEAM rating benchmarks

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BREEAM rating benchmarks

There are a number of elements that determine the overall performance of a new construction project assessed using BREEAM, these are as follows:

The BREEAM rating level benchmarks
The minimum BREEAM standards
The environmental section weightings
The BREEAM assessment issues and credits

How these elements combine to produce a BREEAM rating for a new building is summarised on the following pages. This is followed by a description and example describing the methodology for calculating a rating.

The BREEAM rating benchmarks for projects assessed using the 2014 version of BREEAM UK New Construction are as follows:

Table 3 BREEAM rating benchmarks

BREEAM Rating	% score
Outstanding	≥ 85
Excellent	≥ 70
Very good	≥ 55
Good	≥ 45
Pass	≥ 30
Unclassified	< 30

The BREEAM rating benchmarks enable a client and all other stakeholders to compare the performance of a newly constructed building with other BREEAM rated buildings, and the typical sustainability performance of a stock of new non-domestic buildings in the UK.

In this respect each BREEAM rating broadly represents performance equivalent to:

Outstanding: Less than top 1% of UK new non-domestic buildings (innovator)
Excellent: Top 10% of UK new non-domestic buildings (best practice)
Very Good: Top 25% of UK new non-domestic buildings (advanced good practice)
Good: Top 50% of UK new non-domestic buildings (intermediate good practice)
Pass: Top 75% of UK new non-domestic buildings (standard good practice)

An unclassified BREEAM rating represents performance that is non-compliant with BREEAM, in terms of failing to meet either the BREEAM minimum standards of performance for key environmental issues or the overall threshold score required to achieve at least a Pass rating.