Building life cycle stages covered

This scheme can be used to assess and rate the environmental impacts arising from a newly constructed building development (including external site areas), at the following life cycle stages:

  1. New build design stage (DS) – leading to an interim BREEAM rating and certificate of assessment
  2. New build post-construction stage (PCS) – leading to a final BREEAM rating and certificate of assessment.

Design stage

The design stage (DS) assessment and interim BREEAM rating confirms the proposed new building’s performance at the design stage of the life cycle. Assessment and ideally certification will occur prior to the beginning of operations on site. The BREEAM rating at this stage is labelled as ‘interim’ because it does not represent the building’s final, new construction BREEAM performance.

To complete an assessment at this stage, the design must be advanced to a point where the relevant design information is available to enable the BREEAM Assessor to evaluate and verify the building’s performance against the criteria defined in this scheme document. The interim DS assessment will therefore be completed and certified at the scheme design or detailed design stages.

Post-construction stage (PCS)

The post-construction stage (PCS) assessment and BREEAM rating confirms the final as-built performance of the building at the new construction stage of the life cycle. A final PCS assessment is completed and certified after practical completion of the building works.

There are two approaches to assessment at the post-construction stage:

  1. A post-construction review (PCR) based on a completed interim design stage assessment
  2. A post-construction assessment (PCA).

A PCR serves to confirm that the building’s as-built performance and rating is in accordance with the assessment certified at the interim design stage. Where an interim DS assessment has not been carried out, i.e. certified, and a BREEAM assessment and rating is required, a full post-construction stage assessment can be conducted.

Building life cycle stages not covered

The BREEAM International New Construction scheme is not designed for, and therefore not appropriate to assess the environmental impacts of buildings at the following life cycle stages:

  1. Infrastructure projects (refer to CEEQUAL)
  2. Master planning projects (refer to BREEAM Communities)
  3. Existing building refurbishment and fit-out (refer to BREEAM International Refurbishment and Fit-out)
  4. Existing building in operation or existing unoccupied building (refer to BREEAM In-Use)