BREEAM in Use Part 2 – Management Performance

Whilst there is increasing focus on BIU Part 1 – Asset Performance, which assesses the sustainability of a physical asset, the application of Part 2 of BIU – Management Performance –  is far less common. Of the 423 current BREEAM in Use certificates registered in the UK in August 2021, less than 25% of these certificates relate to Part 2.

The slower uptake in Part 2 is likely a result of fewer market drivers and greater complexities in its application. Property funds, which own many of the assets certified under BREEAM in Use often have limited control over the tenancy and occupier behaviour. There is also currently no additional recognition for a property which is certified against both parts of BREEAM In Use under disclosures such as GRESB.  There may also be practical reasons preventing a buildings certification against Part 2. For example, no more than 20% of the Gross Internal Area (GIA) can be classified as vacant to complete an assessment, which may prevent its uptake.

Although there are currently fewer drivers, Part 2 of BIU is a potentially useful benchmarking tool to help reduce real world impacts and close the performance gap of buildings. This is because unlike BREEAM New Construction, a Part 2 BIU rewards year on year reductions in energy, water and waste, which are crucial in the efforts to reach the UK’s net zero carbon goals.

What’s included in BREEAM in Use Part 2?

Management – This category encourages sustainable management practices throughout the life cycle of the asset, ensuring that both technical and non-technical building operators and users have appropriate guidance on how they can help maximise sustainable performance. This enables clear targets to be put in place and provides feedback loops to ensure that processes and performance can be optimised.

Health and Wellbeing – This category encourages provision of healthy, safe, comfortable and accessible environments for the building’s users.

Energy – This category recognises buildings which have lower operational energy consumption and carbon emissions. Issues in this section assess the energy efficiency of the asset. The operational energy performance implicitly takes account of how well energy consumption is managed within the building. Improvements in the operational energy performance of the asset are also recognised in this category.

Water – This category encourages sustainable water use throughout the operation of the asset and associated site. This ensures that the asset is set up to reduce the use of potable water (both internally and externally) over the lifetime of the building. This includes minimising losses through leakage.

Resources – This category encourages the responsible and circular use of physical resources in the asset to increase value and sustainability performance in operation and at the end of life. This is achieved by encouraging the asset manager to integrate sustainability considerations into the procurement of products used for maintenance, operational consumables and equipment. In addition, more circular use of waste resources generated during the use of the asset is facilitated by rewarding data gathering, target setting and engagement with asset users. This is to maximise the repurposing of waste stream resources where appropriate for other uses.

Resilience – This category considers an asset’s exposure and mitigation strategies for physical risks (including those related to climate change), climate-related transitional and social risks and opportunities, local watercourse pollution, excess material damage, and physical security. This encourages the pro-active management of these risks to minimise their impact and to identify opportunities to enhance resilience of the asset and the community in which it sits to ensure rapid recovery. While this category focuses on hazard preparedness and response, aspects beyond this focus that contribute to and support the broader resilience of the asset and communities it impacts can be found in each of the categories in this standard.

Land Use and Ecology – This category encourages a greater awareness of how the potential ecological value of an asset or site can be enhanced, and the impact that the operation of the asset can have on this ecological value. This enables long-term strategies to be established that will facilitate improvement in this regard

Pollution – The pollution category addresses the prevention and control of pollution and surface water run-off associated with an asset location and use. This facilitates a reduction in impact on surrounding communities and environment, arising from flooding and emissions to air, land and water.

Pollution source reduction is a proactive, and ultimately more cost effective and desirable, process than focusing on pollution treatment and disposal. It reduces the financial, societal and environmental costs from building operations. In addition to reducing the risk of significant financial and reputational implications in the event of a pollution incident, addressing pollution can help address the inequities that are currently present in our communities and provide a healthy environment for all demographic and economic groups, including those that are less advantaged or part of a vulnerable population.

A particular focus on energy

 BIU Part 2 assessment categories have differing weightings, with greatest emphasis on energy:

Energy performance includes the following criteria:

• Ene 19 – Energy consumption – how much energy is consumed by the asset in kWh per year (as metered in the reporting period)?  This compares the buildings actual CO2 emissions in operation from its fuel uses with a reference benchmark building, and points awarded accordingly on how closely it tracks the benchmark using a sliding scale with maximum of 50 credits being awarded for a zero carbon building, and zero credits awarded where the assessed emissions are more than four times the reference emissions.

• Ene 21 – Renewable electricity generated – What is the quantity of electricity generated by on-site and community renewable energy schemes in kWh per year (as metered in the reporting period)?

• Ene 22 – Energy audit – Has an energy audit been carried out for the asset which makes recommendations for improvement?

• Ene 23 – Energy consumption reporting – What happens to asset energy consumption data? How is it shared and acted upon.

• Ene 24 – Reduction of carbon emissions – average annual reduction in CO₂ emissions of the asset over the last 3 years.

Who should apply BIU Part 2?

A Part 2 assessment is particular useful for owner occupiers, able to control both Parts of the BIU V6 process. It is also attractive to operators that may apply policies and practices systematically across a number of assets. This makes the application of BIU Part 2 more easy and cost effective to apply at scale.

Find out More

Contact one of the team to find out more about BIU Part 2 assessments for your project.