ERKE offers its customers who want to build sustainable buildings a full range of BREEAM Certification consultancy and management services, as well as an integrated process to create sustainable synergies between its interdisciplinary team of experts and project stakeholders.
BREEAM is one of the world's leading green building rating systems for projects, infrastructures, and buildings. It sets requirements for a set of life cycle stages for New Construction, Renovation, and Existing Buildings. BREEAM was first introduced in 1990.
Getting a high score from the BREEAM scoring system means developing different innovative approaches and engineering practices for different building typologies in order to create a more sustainable building, increase the brand value of the building and most importantly minimize the construction of the building. The damage to the environment during the entire life cycle of the building is reduced.
BREEAM certification provides international credibility and recognition. BREEAM indicates that a building has been built to the highest standards. The BREEAM green building rating system is older than LEED. Both systems are developing in their own versions. In particular, customers' comparisons of LEED and BREEAM can be very difficult and misleading in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of both certificates.
The BRE Trust is the largest British charity in research and education, particularly in the construction sector. The BRE Trust was established in 2002 to develop knowledge and innovation for the public good. The BRE Trust supports new research and education programs that will help the BRE Group achieve its goal of "building a better world".
The BRE group is split into Bre Global, BRE, and BRE Ventures.
BRE Global is committed to maintaining and improving the performance of fire, safety, environmental, and other products and services. It is an independent third-party certification body that certifies products in the international market. New knowledge generated through independent research identifies products, standards, and attributes that help build buildings to create safe, productive, sustainable, and enjoyable spaces. One of the third-party certificate services is BREEAM. BRE Global develops the BREEAM methodology and provides expert support by training independent BREEAM Assessors. However, the Global Framework Standard (BES 6001) proves that construction materials are produced from responsible sources. The Environmental Profile is a method for identifying and assessing the environmental impacts associated with building materials. ISO 9001 is the standard used to evaluate and document an organization's quality management system. ISO 14001 demonstrates an organization's quality and commitment to its environmental management system. OHSAS 18001 helps to fully integrate health and safety into company policies and work practices.
The GreenBookLive is a free online database of fire, safety, and sustainability-certified products offered by BRE Global. It helps architects, designers, end users, and tendering teams to identify products with low environmental impact. GreenBookLive has a wide range of products and services for all building materials. There are also lists of trained and licensed BREEAM Assessors and qualified BREEAM AP (Accredited Professionals) professionals.
BREEAM Assessor has a certification-type qualification level licensed and tracked by BRE Global. The mission statement is to manage the evaluation process and apply for certification for the project on behalf of the client. In doing so, it will communicate with the customer and relevant stakeholders to confirm the appropriate system, apply the criteria of the relevant system, and facilitate evaluation. Only BRE Global licensed assessors can offer, register, undertake, and apply for an assessment certificate.
They are experts in sustainability and environmental design and also have a high level of control over the BREEAM and assessment process. BREEAM AP is a “sustainability champion” defined and recognized in BREEAM.
BREEAM APs use their expertise to assist clients and project teams by facilitating project-to-project evaluation and collaboration for solutions for plan compliance, goal setting, and performance monitoring.
If a BREEAM AP is not a licensed BREEAM auditor, it cannot undertake the BREEAM assessment and apply to the relevant certification system.
BRE Academy is an international provider of blended education programs for professionals and employers. Developed by BRE and industry experts, rich, quality courses and learning materials, both online and in the classroom, are shared with a wide range of students, from professionals to professionals working in the construction industry.
The aim of BRE Academy is to help organizations achieve their business development goals, assist their colleagues in their careers and develop new generation talents in the industry.
BRE Academy is dedicated to providing world-class education and training programs. Their training portfolio covers a variety of subject areas such as BIM, BREEAM, Design, Energy, Fire, Health and Safety, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Waste.
BREEAM evaluates the building's performance-based design, construction, procurement, and operation processes. Evaluations are made by independent, licensed evaluators and are graded as Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent, and Exceptional.
- BREEAM Pass >30%
- BREEAM Good >45%
- BREEAM Very Good >55%
- BREEAM Excellent >70%
- BREEAM Outstanding >85%
- Management: Environmental criteria for site management and use of the building. In this category;
- Energy: It is aimed to minimize the energy consumption of the buildings.
- Health and Comfort: Human health aims to encourage and reward designs that increase the comfort of building users. The criteria used are natural ventilation and access to daylight.
- Transport: The use of bicycles and public transport is encouraged.
- Water: It encourages the use of systems that reduce water consumption.
- Materials: It encourages the use of building materials selected from approved materials with environmental effects.
- Waste: It supports the recycling of the wastes generated in the building production process and the evaluation of the wastes generated during the building operation and usage process.
- Land Use and Ecology: It is aimed to protect previously uncontaminated land and biodiversity.
- Pollution: It encourages designs that will prevent harmful fluids that affect global warming, light-sound pollution, and pollution of soil and water resources.
- Innovation: BREEAM exceeds the standard evaluation criteria. Above other credit categories, it supports contributions to innovative ideas, designs, management processes, or technological developments in the field of sustainability.
A structure that enters the BREEAM certification process is certified in 2 stages. These;
- Design phase evaluation, this work results in intermediate certification.
- Post-construction evaluation, final certificate is obtained.
It is suitable for all existing commercial structures. Currently, existing building certificates are not applied in residential buildings. So how do they make a difference? It provides the following benefits to investors and building users:
- Reducing operational costs and increasing efficiency,
- Increasing building value and market demand,
- To increase the comfort, efficiency, and satisfaction of building employees,
- Closing the "performance gap" between modeled outputs and operational outputs,
- Ensure independent third-party certification is achieved.
Such certificates cover a wide range of buildings; They can be applied to commercial buildings such as retail and office, student and nursing homes, residences, and public buildings such as schools and hospitals. How does the system work? The construction investor should first work with a licensed BREEAM Renovation and Fit Out Specialist. After an expert is assigned to the project, site visits are organized. These visits are usually made twice, at the pre-evaluation phase and immediately after the building is renovated. The evaluator completes assessments during and after site visits and continues to gather necessary evidence from the project team.
