Certified Green Building

Since the early 1990’s BEAMs have been developed in around twenty countries to provide a more holistic assessment of building performance than hither to. Some are well-established [BREEAM, BEAM, LEED, Green Globes] and some have been introduced more recently [CASBEE, Green Star, Green Mark]. Schemes may cover both new and existing buildings, and a tool may be specific to a particular building type. The outcome of an assessment is a grade (Platinum, Gold, or Excellent, Very good, or 4-star, 3-star, etc) defined by the assessment method, based on either the sum of points or credits achieved, or on a more complex calculation incorporating weighting factors.

How Green?

The ‘greenness’ of a certified building depends on many factors [1], not least the rating system coverage of green performance, the grade achieved (number of credits or points), which credits are obtained, the persistence over time of the design enhancements introduced, the weighting or scoring of credits, the standards of performance (benchmarks), reliability of assessment methods and data.

Quality of Process

ISO [2] recognises that the quality of process, from initial planning, design, construction, and commissioning as a new building, through to management, operation and maintenance, refurbishment and subsequent disposal all impact on the sustainability (greenness) of a building. Building users also play a significant role in a building’s environmental impact.

Whilst good processes do not necessarily produce good outcomes, post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of buildings demonstrates that poor processes tend to produce poor outcomes. The principles of green and sustainable buildings are best implemented within the process rather than by features embedded in a building. Four key processes are identified as critical to sustainable performance:

Integrated Planning & Design
Energy Modelling
Commissioning Management
Operation & Maintenance

Intergrated Design Process

See Roadmap: “In general, the integrated design process is an approach to building design that seeks to achieve high performance on a wide variety of well-defined environmental and social goals while staying within budgetary and scheduling constraints. It relies upon a multidisciplinary and collaborative team whose members make decisions together based on a shared vision and a holistic understanding of the project. It follows the design through the entire project life, from pre-design through occupancy and into operation.”

[1] Burnett, J., Chau, C.K., Lee W.L., Green Buildings : How Green the Label? HKIE Transactions. Vol.12, No. 4, pp1-8, 2005.
[2] ISO/TS 21931-1. First edition 2006-03-01. Sustainability in building construction - Framework for methods of assessment for environmental performance of constructed works - Part 1: Buildings. 2006