BREEAM New Construction for USA and Canada
The BREEAM New Construction standards assess the sustainability performance of newly designed and constructed assets, and new-build extensions to existing buildings. This includes the local, natural or human-created environment surrounding the building.
BREEAM International New Construction integrates science-led metrics and global best practices to provide a framework that empowers developers, designers, and sustainability professionals to achieve the most sustainable building within the constraints of the project.
BREEAM International New Construction Version 7
BREEAM New Construction Version 7 provides developers and designers with a powerful, science-driven standard to minimize environmental impact, optimize resource efficiency, and enhance asset resilience.
What’s new in Version 7:
- Dual metrics measuring Energy Use Intensity (EUI) and Carbon Use Intensity (CUI) for predicted operational carbon emissions from energy and water
- Whole life carbon addressed, with issues specifically measuring upfront and embodied carbon
- Introduces minimum requirements for refrigerants
- Strong emphasis on life cycle assessment at concept, technical and post-construction phases
- Stronger minimum standards ensure that BREEAM Excellent and Outstanding buildings are designed and constructed to generate very low or no carbon emissions in operation
With an emphasis on whole-life carbon, biodiversity, resilience, and material selection, BREEAM V7 ensures that new developments are not only aligned with today’s sustainability goals but are also adaptable to future challenges.
Certification types
Two certification options are available under BREEAM New Construction:
BREEAM Design Stage certification signifies a building's intended sustainability performance at the design phase, before construction begins.
It's an interim assessment, part of the BREEAM certification process, that recognizes a building's intended sustainability performance once constructed.
This certification provides an early indication of a building's sustainability credentials and can be a crucial step towards achieving full BREEAM certification after construction.
BREEAM Post Construction Stage certification verifies the building’s sustainability performance once it has been constructed and completed.
This offers the final BREEAM rating reflecting the sustainability features and performance has been implemented and documented.
This certification gives asset owners a competitive advantage by validating sustainability performance claims, gaining recognition from global reporting frameworks, unlocking sustainable finance options to reduce capital costs and enhancing asset value.
Post Construction Stage certification is possible without a prior Design Stage certification, although projects are encouraged to do both to streamline the certification process.
BREEAM ratings
BREEAM International New Construction offers five ratings and each BREEAM rating broadly represents performance equivalent to:
- Outstanding: Less than the top 1% of buildings (innovator)
- Excellent: Top 10% of buildings (best practice)
- Very Good: Top 25% of buildings (advanced good practice)
- Good: Top 50% of buildings (intermediate good practice)
- Pass: Top 75% of buildings (standard good practice)
Building types that can use BREEAM International New Construction
BREEAM International New Construction can be used to assess most types of new buildings. The most common are:
Office | Industrial | Retail | Multifamily | Student housing | Data Centers
For new-build developments that do not fall within the scope of BREEAM International New Construction, BRE offers a bespoke service that adapts the BREEAM criteria to address the specific challenges of the project.
Accessing lower costs of capital through BREEAM certification
BREEAM International New Construction is now accepted through the CIRRUS C-PACE program offered by PACE Equity. Certification helps your project automatically qualify for lower cost of capital, offering a significant rate reduction for either new construction or refinancing.
Find out what your project could achieve
Speak with our experts at BREEAM USA to discover how you can use BREEAM International New Construction to unlock real estate value through sustainability.
Call us on +1 (888) 233-0176, email us at BREEAMUSA@bregroup.com or use the contact form.