Sustainable Products

11th May 2018

BREEAM UK New Construction 2018 and BRE Sustainable Products

BREEAM launched its latest technical standard: BREEAM UK New Construction (NC) 2018 on the 7th of March 2018. Following a significant update, the ‘Materials’ category encourages whole building life cycle assessment and recognises and rewards construction products with independently verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). This blog explains how BRE’s sustainable products fit in with the … Continue reading “BREEAM UK New Construction 2018 and BRE Sustainable Products”

7th September 2017

Eight Pathways Launched to Combat Modern Slavery and Unethical Practices in Supply Chains

New action programme, by APRES, to support the responsible and ethical sourcing of materials, products and people The APRES (Action Programme on Responsible and Ethical Sourcing) Eight Pathways Model is launched today via a White Paper produced by world-leading building science centre, BRE, and academic partner, Loughborough University. APRES aims to combat global human rights … Continue reading “Eight Pathways Launched to Combat Modern Slavery and Unethical Practices in Supply Chains”

22nd March 2017

Ethical Labour Sourcing – A big leap for BRE, the industry and society

The Centre for Sustainable Products at BRE has a long tradition with product environmental assessment with products such as Environmental Profiles and the Green Guide to Specification. Over the past few years I have seen this evolve from a very quantitative approach to recognise the broader sustainability issues that touch procurement and supply chain assurance. … Continue reading “Ethical Labour Sourcing – A big leap for BRE, the industry and society”

6th September 2016

Sustainable refurbishment – how to better understand, measure and reduce the embodied impacts

Around 10% of UK emissions are associated with the manufacture and transport of construction materials, and the construction process; and refurbishment projects make up a significant percentage of activities in the built environment. The UK is committed to reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050; savings linked to refurbishment will have an important part to play in meeting this target. … Continue reading “Sustainable refurbishment – how to better understand, measure and reduce the embodied impacts”

18th July 2016

Keep Calm and Produce EPD

Following the decision for the UK to leave the EU and the political turmoil that has subsequently followed there have been many questions as to what Brexit will mean for our nation. One of these aspects relates to our involvement in European Standard committees of which BRE are actively involved in. BSI as our national … Continue reading “Keep Calm and Produce EPD”