BRE and CEEQUAL announced plans today to bring together two successful schemes – BREEAM and CEEQUAL – to create a single, science based sustainability standard and certification tool for civil engineering and infrastructure projects in the UK and around the world.From today, CEEQUAL will transfer its business operations to BRE Global after which CEEQUAL will then be delivered by the BREEAM certification team with continued support from the CEEQUAL scheme management team. The move is supported by the Institution of Civil Engineers and has been prompted by the industry’s desire for a single sustainability rating scheme that addresses the challenges that infrastructure clients, professions and contractors currently face in delivering more sustainable and resilient infrastructure. The new scheme will also address the need for integration with building related schemes so that clients with mixed developments can have a single combined rating for their asset. BRE Chief Executive Peter Bonfield said ‘Our long term aspiration with a single scheme is to bring together the significant experience and expertise behind the two rating systems to deliver enhanced environmental and social benefits for civil engineering works and better economic outcomes that benefit society, and broaden up-take in the UK and international markets.’ Over the next two years BRE will, with the involvement of the current CEEQUAL and BREEAM delivery teams and communities, combine the best elements and features of both approaches into a new and improved holistic scheme for industry that combines CEEQUAL’s team and process-focused approach with BREEAM’s more asset-based scientific methodology. During this development period CEEQUAL will remain open to new project registrations and current and prospective users are encouraged to bring forward further CEEQUAL assessments, the contracts for which will be fulfilled to their completion.* CEEQUAL's Roger Venables said ‘CEEQUAL is an internationally respected rating and awards scheme and has been applied to – and positively influenced – some of the UK’s most successful infrastructure projects like Crossrail and the London 2012 Olympics. It is increasingly used outside the UK, especially in Sweden and, most recently, in Qatar. I and my colleagues look forward to working with BRE to develop the next generation rating scheme that will address the significant challenges faced by those working in the sector.’ BREEAM will now launch an open pilot of its new BREEAM infrastructure methodology to verify the science based metrics that have been developed. This, together with the development work and new metrics behind the planned upgrade of CEEQUAL (Version 6) will inform the next generation scheme which BRE plans to launch in 2017. For further information on CEEQUAL and future registrations under the scheme please refer to the CEEQUAL website: www.ceequal.com   For further information on BREEAM Infrastructure please refer to the BREEAM website:www.breeam.org.uk/infrastructure For press enquiries please contact Linda McKeown, BRE, 01923 664569, email mckeownl@bre.co.uk NOTES TO EDITOR *What happens next with CEEQUAL During the transition period CEEQUAL will continue to operate as normal, with the existing Verifiers and continued support from the Scheme Management Team. It will continue to provide benefits to project and contract teams striving to deliver the evolving sustainability aspirations of the construction industry. Commitments and contracts with current customers of CEEQUAL will continue unchanged. CEEQUAL will continue to be available for new project and term contract teams, who we encourage to apply for new CEEQUAL assessments, particularly as the new Version 5.2 is soon to be released.  CEEQUAL Verifiers will continue to provide the important skills needed for the completion of CEEQUAL Assessments, while members of the current CEEQUAL scheme management team, TAG and Subject Experts will maintain their support during the future operational and development period. CEEQUAL Assessors will be able to transition their qualifications to the new scheme when it is launched, currently envisaged to be in 2017. CEEQUAL certificates will continue to be signed by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and this role will extend to include infrastructure certificates issued by BREEAM. BRE We are a world leading building science centre and the authority on all aspects of the built environment. We generate new knowledge through research that is used to create products, tools and standards that drive positive change across the built environment. We enable our government and private sector clients to meet the environmental, social and economic challenges they face by delivering higher performing, better quality, safer, more secure and more sustainable products homes, buildings and communities. We are owned by the BRE Trust, a registered charity, which funds research and education that advances knowledge of the built environment.  We are committed to building a better world together. We are BRE. www.bre.co.uk CEEQUAL CEEQUAL is the evidence-based sustainability assessment, rating and awards scheme for civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping and the public realm, and celebrates the achievement of high environmental and social performance. It aims to deliver improved specification, design and construction of civil engineering works. CEEQUAL rewards project and contract teams in which clients, designers and contractors go beyond the legal environmental and social minima to achieve distinctive environmental and social performance in their work. In addition to its use as a rating system to assess performance, it also provides significant influence to project or contract teams as they develop, design and construct their work, because it encourages them to consider the issues in the question set at the most appropriate time. Further details are at www.ceequal.com