BREEAM is the world's foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings, with 200,000 buildings with certified BREEAM assessment ratings and over a million registered for assessment since it was first launched in 1990.

BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation and has become one of the most comprehensive and widely recognised measures of a building's environmental performance.

A BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design, construction and use. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology. They include aspects related to energy and water use, the internal environment (health and well-being), pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology and management processes.

A certificated BREEAM assessment is delivered by a licensed organisation, using assessors trained under a UKAS accredited competent person scheme, at various stages in a building's life cycle. This provides clients, developers, designers and others with:

• market recognition for low environmental impact buildings
• confidence that tried and tested environmental practice is incorporated in the building
• inspiration to find innovative solutions that minimise the environmental impact
• a benchmark that is higher than regulation
• a system to help reduce running costs, improve working and living environments
• a standard that demonstrates progress towards corporate and organisational environmental objectives