Sustainable Construction and Energy Efficiency

BREEAM Assessment

BREEAM is the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method for buildings and large scale developments.

All planning applications for new non-residential development must make reference to the West Berkshire Core Strategy and include, as a minimum, a BREEAM Pre-assessment Estimator (a tool to calculate the rating a development is likely to achieve for sustainability and energy efficiency under a formal BREEAM assessment), or equivalent. The Pre-assessment Estimator should demonstrate that the proposed non-residential development will meet the BREEAM Excellent rating. If your proposal does not achieve the required level then your application could be refused permission.

Sustainable Construction data, and Energy Efficiency data in the form of the Pre-assessment Estimator, is a  local validation requirement [99KB] for planning applications, in line with our Core Strategy policy "CS 15 - Sustainable Construction and Energy Efficiency" [181KB] .

It is likely to be included within your Design and Access Statement that accompanies the planning application.

You can find full guidance on the BREEAM credit requirements on the BREEAM website. For free BREEAM briefing papers, please see the BREEAM tools page on their website.

Energy Efficiency

The section of Planning Policy CS 15 [181KB]  relating to Renewable Energy requires a 20 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions in both residential and non-residential development.

Code for Sustainable Homes Assessment (CSH)

In the Ministerial Statement of March 2015, the Government withdrew the Code for Sustainable Homes in England. It was replaced with a dual change to Building Regulations and the introduction of new National Technical Standards.