Winter 2013 З Д А Н И Я В Ы С О К И Х Т Е Х Н О Л О Г И Й
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ket, and gives customers confidence
about their performance.
It is also important to distinguish
certification from testing. Certifica-
tion should ensure that products and
services it certifies meet – and con-
tinue to meet – appropriate stand-
ards, through a robust combina-
tion of regular company audits and
a schedule of on-going tests. While
testing can deliver a valuable meas-
ure of a product’s performance at
a given time, certification monitors
that performance for as long as the
product remains certified.
Whether a product is just test-
ed or fully certified, it must be done
against a robust and scientifically
based standard. BRE Global, through
the Trust, conducts research across
the full range of the built environ-
ment. The output of this research is
used both in publications to help in-
dustry, consumers and users but also
as the basis for sound, technical-
ly robust standards. If is often these
standards that create the real differ-
ence.
Responsible sourcing
Customer concerns about construc-
tion product sourcing often extends
beyond purely environmental issues.
In fact the responsible sourcing of
materials is often in the headlines.
A number of exposés have revealed
poor working conditions in some
overseas factories and in the extrac-
tion of raw materials with little re-
gard for the environment or the peo-
ple that live nearby.
The wellbeing of the local work-
force is just one of the wide-rang-
ing ethical, environmental and so-
cial issues that must be considered
throughout the supply-chain when
determining if a product has been
responsibly sourced. A number of
schemes, such as Fairtrade, Rainfor-
est Alliance and Marine Stewardship
Council, have been established to en-
able specifiers to identify responsi-
bly sourced materials.
The BES 6001 Framework Stand-
ard for the Responsible Sourcing of
Construction Products was launched
by BRE Global in 2008 as a means of
certifying almost any type of mate-
rial used in the construction indus-
try. With many clients now includ-
ing responsible sourcing criteria on
their tender documents, the stand-
ard has been used to certify a range
of common products, such as con-
crete blocks, bricks, cement, clad-
ding, ready-mixed concrete, paving
slabs and reinforcing steel.
If such schemes are to remain ef-
fective they must be continually
monitored, improved and updated.
BES 6001, for example, is currently
undergoing a revision process to en-
sure that the Standard reflects re-
cent developments in responsible
sourcing and procurement practices.
Better buildings and
developments
There is, of course, more to develop-
ing sustainable buildings than speci-
fying appropriately certified building
products. A wide range of environ-
mental, economic and social issues
must be integrated in the design,
construction and use of the buildings.
To help deal with these complex-
ities a number of schemes for as-
sessing and certifying buildings have
been developed in Europe, the USA,
Australia and elsewhere. The long-
est established and most widely used
of these is the UK’s BREEAM scheme,
an internationally recognised quality
mark of a building’s sustainability.
Using independent, licensed asses-
sors, BREEAM examines scientifical-
ly-based criteria covering a range of
issues in categories that evaluate en-
ergy and water use, health and well-
being, pollution, transport, materi-
als, waste, ecology and management
processes. Buildings are rated and
certified on a scale of ‘Pass’, ‘Good’,
‘Very Good’, ‘Excellent’ and ‘Out-
standing’.
Since its launch BREEAM has ex-
panded from its original focus on in-
dividual new buildings at construc-
tion stage, to encompass the whole
life cycle of buildings from planning
to in-use and refurbishment – and
to include whole communities. with
well over a million registered for cer-
tification.
The Scheme’s regular revisions and
updates, designed to widen its im-
pact on sustainability, respond to
feedback from industry and interna-
tional sustainability strategies and
commitments. This on-going evolu-
tion has allowed BREEAM to remain
at the leading edge of scientific de-
velopment and innovation.
Sustainability and quality
Along with quantifiable improve-
ments – for example in carbon emis-
sions, resource consumption, waste
reduction – less tangible improve-
ments in quality are increasingly be-
ing noted in buildings designed with
a strong focus on sustainability.
Achieving the standards required
by a scheme such as BREEAM re-
quires careful planning, design, spec-
ification and detailing, and a good
working relationship between the cli-
ent and project team. These are also
the very qualities that can produce
better buildings and better condi-
tions for building users. The great-
er efficiency and quality associated
with sustainability are also helping
to make such building more commer-
cially successful. There is growing ev-
idence, for example, that BREEAM-
rated buildings provide increased
rates of return for investors, and in-
creased rental rates and sales premi-
ums for developers and owners.
A study carried out by Maastricht
University and published by the Roy-
al Institution of Chartered Surveyors
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