news from BRE
published: 30/7/2009
BRE Global & ITG sign letter of intent for BREEAM in Spain
BRE Global has signed an agreement today with ITG for the adoption of BREEAM in Spain. The agreement will accelerate the development of BREEAM for the Spanish market, with ITG developing BREEAM Spain methodology, certification and assessor training under the guidance of BRE Global.
Martin Townsend, Director of BREEAM, said: "We are excited about the prospect of working with ITG and a wide range of Spanish stakeholders including local government to develop a local standard based on our knowledge and experience in increasing the sustainability of buildings. We will be working together to adapt BREEAM for the Spanish market - BREEAM's great strength is that it is a flexible and adaptable tool to work with."
Carlos Calvo, Director General of ITG, said: "As a starting point we will be looking to introduce versions of the very successful BREEAM schemes for new and existing buildings and also the new scheme covering communities. This is the start of a long partnership with BRE Global in Spain, which will also contribute towards the wider goal of developing common rating tools in Europe."
BREEAM is now used extensively in a wide range of countries throughout Europe. In October last year, for example, the Dutch Green Building Council announced that it was adopting BREEAM for the Netherlands and last month BRE Global concluded a memorandum of understanding to work with the CSTB to align HQE and BREEAM in France
BRE Global, with partners CSTB, has also now formed a powerful new Sustainability Alliance to provide the direction and decisive leadership to improve the sustainability of buildings throughout Europe and beyond.
Further information on BREEAM's European and international dimension can be found at www.breeam.org/international.
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Press enquiries : BRE Global, SIMON GUY, +44(0)1923 664305, guys@bre.co.uk;
Notes for Editors
1 BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings around the world, with over 110,000 buildings certified and over half a million registered. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de-facto measure used to describe a building's environmental performance. Credits are awarded in eight categories according to performance. These credits are then added together to produce a single overall score on a scale of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding which is also reflected in a star rating from 1 to 5 stars. The operation of BREEAM is overseen by an independent Sustainability Board, representing a wide cross-section of construction industry stakeholders. http://www.breeam.org/.
2 BRE Global Limited (incorporating LPCB & BREEAM) is an independent third party approvals body offering certification of fire, security and sustainability products and services to an international market. BRE Global mission is to ‘Protect People, Property and the Planet' and is a trading subsidiary of the BRE Trust, the registered research and education charity which owns the BRE Group. For further information please contact: BRE Global, Garston, Watford, WD25 9XX, Tel: 01923 664100, Fax: 01923 664910, Email: enquiries@breglobal.com or visit http://www.breglobal.com/
3 ITG (Instituto Tecnológico de Galicia) is a not-for-profit institution founded in 1991 by groups of architects and engineers in Galicia. Apart from the founding members ITG is linked to several colleges and universities.
4 CSTB is the French approval body for the construction sector. It is a State-owned industrial and commercial corporative, placed under the administrative supervision of the French Ministry of Housing. It is one of Europe's leading research and evaluation centres. CSTB collaborates with contracting authorities, architects, research offices, manufacturers and entrepreneurs, and helps the French public authorities to define technical regulations and ensure the quality of buildings.
5 Haute Qualité Environnementale or HQE (High Quality Environmental standard) is a standard for green building in France, based on the principles of sustainable development first set out at the 1992 Earth Summit. The standard is controlled by the Paris based Association pour la Haute Qualité Environnementale (ASSOHQE).