Environmental assessment of buildings

To assess the sustainability or environmental impact of buildings, different assessment methods have been developed during the last decade.

Internationally well known are the British method BREEAM and the American method LEED.

BREEAM is the Environmental Assessment Method of BRE. After registration, you can freely download the BREEAM checklists for offices, homes, industrial buildings, etc., but in order to become an official certified BREEAM assessor, you need to follow the BREEAM trainings.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is developed by the US. Green Building Council. It should be flexible enough to assess all kinds of buildings, both commercial and residential buildings.

In Flanders, the government developed its own guide (in Dutch) 'Waardering van kantoorgebouwen - op weg naar een duurzame huisvesting voor de Vlaamse overheid'.
Apart from a brochure, the website gives also an Excel checklist and presentations of model buildings and of the Vlaams Administratief Centrum (VAC) in Leuven, the first 4-stars building of the Flemish government.
A pro of this method is that it is adapted to the Flemish context and can easily be applied to other Flemish office buildings.