Module B1 Study Book - the Graduate School of the Environment

Features Consequences Impacts
Table 1. Building features, consequences and impacts
Theme 1: Environmental 2: Economic 3: Social
Sub-Theme 1.1 Global 2.1 Construction 3.1 Equity
1.2 Local & site 2.2 Materials 3.2 Community
1.3 Internal 2.3 Infrastructure
Issues Climate change Profitability Poverty
Resources Employment Minorities
Internal
Productivity Inner Cities
environment
External
Transport and Transport
Environment Utilities
Wildlife Stock value Communications
Table 2. Themes, sub-themes and issues of the built environment (BRE) 1
2. Types of assessment
The impact of a building can be evaluated in several ways depending on
which issues are being assessed (Energy, Environment or Sustainability
issues), and which stage of the building’s life is being assessed (construction,
operation or disposal). The assessment can take place at any stage in the
building process and will have a different purpose at each stage:
• Pre-design stage - Planning tools such as Sustainability Appraisals,
which are applied to guide the preparation of plans and strategies.
• Design stage – Design tools such as Envest which can quickly
evaluate the impacts of different design choices and guide the design
process. Or more detailed assessments such as BREEAM, which
assess the finished design may provide some sort of certification or
Lecture: Building performance assessment methods 21