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BREEAM Jargon Buster

BREEAM Jargon Buster
About:

Definitions:

Opinion:

GBE and many in the UK are critical of BREEAM, Eco Homes (EH) and Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) and their reliance upon Green Guide to Specification (GGtS) for many reasons

First its not Green,
Second its not a Guide to Specification
Its not a level playing field it covers conventional construction and misses out all the green construction method options
If the construction you choose for your project is missing you cannot get credits in BREEAM EH CfSH
GBE never find the one we are using listed
It decides which construction methods are applicable to any building type/use.
But Architects don’t follow those rules.
We wanted to use timber in a school, it was not listed so no credits, but if we chose concrete we would get a few credits
Its not a level playing field it covers conventional materials and misses out on the green material options
It create a technical barrier to eco materials entry into the market contrary to EU Procurement rules.
Its full of incompetent elemental assemblies e.g. uninsulated wall, incompetent insulation in timber frame,
It ignores all the accessories which are made of metal and plastic and constitute a high % of LCA but ignored
Its full of irresponsible sourcing decisions, Chinese stone, Spanish slate,
In my experience it never has the materials you want
You cannot get credits for them in BREEAM EH CfSH
Its development is dependent upon industry sector support
It approached big industry sector associations and ignored the small manufacturers and their products
A-G is simplistic for simple specifiers but its still based on LCA so its not cheap
But is most things are A its unhelpful
If pvc window scrap is turned into plastic road cones and garden gnomes it makes pvc window A+ rated or C rated if manufacturers product is assessed.
Specifiers have to use it, they do not choose to use it.
Design& Build Contractors use it to justify cheap PVC A+ rated windows, all other performance requirements are ignored.

ASBP Alliance for Sustainable Building Products) set up in reaction to GGtG to challenge it to Government.

GBE are members of ASBP.

ASBPs critique of GGtS presented to DCLG (Government) by Good Homes Alliance (GHA)

BRE Wales are critical of BRE England’s GGtS

BrianSpecMan also wrote a 80 page critique and lots of Powerpoints about what is wrong with it.