Evaluating the Efficacy of BREEAM Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH): A Cross-sectional Study

AbstractThere is now a substantial body of evidence suggesting that climate change is occurring as a result of human activities. Bottom-up approaches have been encouraged to enhance sustainability agenda. Assessment methods have been developed to ensure an incessant decrease in carbon footprint of buildings. It has long been discussed that many of such assessment methods systematically lack dedicated criteria to assess building beyond its physical boundaries. This paper focuses on Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) and attempts to map it against LEED and CASBEE with an aim to encourage assessment beyond physical boundaries of a building and into its immediate context and surrounding environment. A critical review of the latest literature was conducted to establish the general concepts and principles behind the CSH's method of assessment in comparison with CASBEE and LEED. Following this, differences, positive and negative aspects of the three assessment method were established through in-depth review of their official documents and by cross-referencing the different components, methodologies and assessment criteria of each. This led to a comparative analysis using a critical evaluation of findings of The Building Environmental Quality Evaluation for Sustainability through Time (BEQUEST), The European Sustainable Development Strategy (ESDS) and The Freiburg Charter (FC). Expert interviews were conducted to consolidate the findings of this study. This added technical in-depth expert opinions to the preliminary findings of this research and helped pave the way for providing practical suggestions for possible areas of improvement for the CSH

Testing the nexus between C&D waste management strategies & GHG emission performances : the case of UK student accommodation refurbishment projects

All governments, industry sectors and societies each have a pivotal role to play if we are to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. For the construction industry, limiting emissions and addressing issues of sustainability is not just important for reducing the environmental impacts of the sector, but is simply good practice. This research investigates the nexus between the generation and management of waste and greenhouse gas performance in the refurbishment sector, with specific focus on UK student accommodation projects. Performance data from three case study projects were analysed in order to: evaluate the types and extent of wastes and how they are managed; the greenhouse gas impacts of each project waste management strategy; and an assessment is undertaken to estimate the number of BREEAM waste credits that each project would have achieved. The research concludes that the overall greenhouse gas performance of a project’s waste management strategy is highly dependent on how specific high emission impact factor waste streams are managed, and notably, there is a disconnect between waste targets, legislation and sustainability benchmarking schemes that measure success based on the levels of diverting waste from landfill, and the emission performance of waste management strategies. A key area of risk potentially overlooked relates to the scenarios where proportionally small quantities of high emission wastes (e.g. plastics) were sent to landfill alongside large quantities of low emission wastes (e.g. aggregates, bricks, etc.). To ensure the increased emission performance of the refurbishment sector, greater focus is needed on preventing specific categories of waste from the landfill pathway

Environmental assessment schemes for non-domestic building refurbishment in the Malaysian context

The increase in global warming, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions has gained attention in various regions. In Malaysia, the government announced a voluntary commitment to reduce 40% of CO 2 emissions by 2020 and to refurbish 100 government buildings. Existing buildings make a large contribution to energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, therefore refurbishing existing buildings is an essential strategy to achieve the commitment. There is no single assessment scheme for building refurbishment in Malaysia and hence, this study aims to develop a comprehensive list of assessment themes and sub-themes for building refurbishment purposes. It examines and compares 10 assessment schemes from various countries: BREEAM, LEED, CASBEE, BEAM Plus, GBLS, Green Star, HQE, Green Mark, GBI and MyCrest. The findings revealed fourteen themes that were considered for assessment: management, sustainable site, transport, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), water, waste, material, energy, pollution, innovation, economic, social, culture and quality of services. Energy and IEQ are dominant themes in all assessment schemes. Most of the schemes are considered relatively weak in evaluating economic and social aspects, in comparison to environmental aspects. The assessment of quality of services is overlooked in most of the schemes, including GBI and MyCrest in Malaysia. Outcomes from this paper will form the baseline for a new environmental assessment scheme that aimed at non-domestic building refurbishments in Malaysia. A new model is proposed for the development of an environmental assessment scheme in the further stage