BREEAM New Construction v7 shifts focus to whole-building sustainability, embodied carbon, and healthier, longer-lasting designs, says Richard Aylen
WE’VE been talking about sustainable building design for many years, and for the construction industry as a whole we have focused largely upon operational carbon levels, i.e. energy use, design of HVAC systems, thermal insulation and the like. This is because these are the areas where the biggest gains can be made. But this strategy has now matured, and the opportunities for significant gains in this area are fewer due to the advent of new technology and building regulations that make greater energy efficiency the norm.
In order to achieve further improvements in sustainable building design we need to focus upon other aspects of sustainability including indoor air quality, water, health, use of natural daylight and measuring embodied carbon. For anyone new to the term, embodied carbon is the carbon that is contained in the materials that the building itself is made from. This is largely the reason behind the increased interest in using recycled aggregates and reducing the amount of concrete in buildings.
As most readers will know, these issues affect the UK flooring industry as much as they affect other construction-related sectors. Designers of buildings, and their clients have various ways of measuring the sustainability of their buildings and the need to do so is fast becoming mandatory as government and large corporate clients are realising the benefits.
This time around I want to talk about one of those schemes because it has recently been updated and is perhaps one of the most widely adopted sustainability accreditation schemes in the UK and abroad.
I’m referring here to BREEAM (the Building Research Environmental Assessment Method), which was introduced in 1990. Under this scheme clients can achieve different levels of accreditation, depending upon the sustainability of the project. As a flooring manufacturer or installer, if you are working in the non-residential sector, it is likely that at some point in time you will be asked to provide information or adopt certain practices because the building is being BREEAM assessed.
What follows is a broad description of what BREEAM aims to do and an outline of the main changes that have just been implemented.
BREEAM encompasses a wide range of topics including energy use and sustainability of materials. It is also used to assess the quality of the building from the perspective of the people who use it, by inclusion of indoor air quality and daylighting.
When designing a building the architect will often employ a BREEAM assessor; a person who has expertise in BREEAM standards and how to apply them to the specific building that is being designed. There are several levels of BREEAM accreditation with the higher levels being awarded to projects with the lowest environmental impact.
I think it’s fair to say that in the past, in common with other assessment methods, the focus upon embodied carbon by BREEAM has not been very strong, but with changing approaches to sustainability they now need to embrace this subject.
As a result, in September 2025 they updated their assessment criteria in the form of BREEAM New Construction v 7, for new buildings. A version for refurbishment and adaptations is expected to follow at some point in the future.
The new version of BREEAM introduces
assessment criteria that are more measurable than in previous versions, requiring the use of established benchmarks along with gaining credits for exceeding requirements of the current building regulations. For building owners this means their assets are better protected against climate change and the asset value of their buildings is increased through having a BREEAM rating.
Instead of prioritising operational carbon, BREEAM now requires designers to look at the whole carbon life cycle of the building. This is a significantly broader and longer-term approach than before and includes the environmental impact of extraction and processing of raw materials, energy used for manufacturing and transport, the amount of carbon embodied in the materials themselves, the lifespan of the product and the environmental impact of maintenance, repair, demolition, recycling and disposal.
They assess the lifecycle impact of the project at three critical stages: concept design, technical design, and post construction. From our perspective in the flooring industry this could mean designers favouring solid timber floors, from sustainably managed sources. As it grows the tree collects carbon from the atmosphere, locking it away so it cannot increase global warming.
Compared with other building materials this is a rare and significant benefit. When made into a solid wood floor its long life span means the carbon is ‘locked up’ for many years and when it is disposed of the nett effect upon global warming is minimal to zero.
In order to achieve ‘Excellent’ or ‘Outstanding’ BREEAM ratings the building needs to meet recognised embodied carbon benchmarks. Clients are invited to adopt existing industry-recognised benchmarks and to demonstrate that the project complies. In addition, the designer must create models for energy consumption and carbon emissions from the early stages of the process and show to what extent they’re eliminating the use of fossil fuels. These must also be reviewed at different stages of the project.
Water and air quality and biodiversity are also key elements of the assessment. Before Version 7 the designer would gain credits by meeting the UK Biodiversity Net Gain legislation (BNG), but now credits are only given if the project exceeds the limits of the scheme. BNG ensures that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before the development and it is now a standard part of the town and country planning act.
The ideal is to provide buildings that enhance the environment and make it better, rather than the original approach of accepting that buildings will be damaging and limiting as far as possible the extent of that damage. Using a timber floor that has a sustainability certificate such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) means the forests where the timber was grown are properly managed and water and air quality and biodiversity are protected.
Human health and comfort are given higher priority than before and again a solid timber floor can be a good option due to its low levels of VOCs and tendency not to harbour dust and mites.
Compared with the previous version, BREEAM v7 will require designers to engage with sustainability consultants at an earlier stage than before. They’ll also need to carry out assessment and modelling at an earlier stage and more frequently than before.
For clients the up-front costs will be higher because of the need to engage consultants in the early stages of the project. It may mean also that the materials, products and processes specified by the designer will be more expensive. However, the upside of this is that the finished building will have a higher market value than one with a lower sustainability rating, or no rating at all. It also means that the building elements will last longer, will be easier to maintain and repair, more energy-efficient and will have a lower cost of maintenance. With current trends such as designing for disassembly the residual value of the building at the end of its life will be higher because many of the materials and components can be sold for reuse or recycling, thereby reducing and offsetting disposal costs.
It goes without saying manufacturers will need to offer the most sustainable products, but they will also need to provide a high standard of technical support including documentation and independent certification to the required standards.
It’s not unusual also for manufacturers to need to provide evidence of their corporate social responsibility and anti-slavery policies, and evidence that they support the communities where they are based and where they work. The same applies to contractors.
Contractors will also need to provide ‘as built’ evidence that they have installed the products correctly and they’ll be part of regular checks that ensure carbon and energy targets are being met as the project proceeds. They’ll also need to show their site practices are sustainable in terms of their choice of plant, energy use and how they deal with waste and recycling.
In their new Version 7, BREEAM has created a scheme that demands close collaboration between design and construction teams and to make clients think about creating buildings that enhance the environment rather than merely settling for damage- limitation. An ambitious move perhaps, but a reflection of where the construction industry, and therefore the flooring industry is going.
Richard Aylen is technical manager, Junckers