Assessment Methods - Evaluating Sustainable Development in the Built Environment - page 111

or recycling) and the environmental impacts at each stage of
the product life cycle.

LCA's rigorous methodology is based on ISO 14040 and BS EN ISO
14041-43. Software tools exist for evaluations of buildings, for exam-
ple, BEES - Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability
or BRE - Building Research Establishment (see below).

Strengths and weaknesses
LCA allows clear comparisons between product systems, leading to
greater understanding of the way in which environmental impacts are
generated. A number of weaknesses are: the lack of general consensus
on the metrics for measuring environmental impact; the lack of a sys-
tematical consideration of the economic and social impacts; the costly
and time-consuming procedure which may limit the use of the tech-
niques in both the public and private sectors.

For further details
❏

Edwards, S. & Bennett, P. (2003). Construction products and life-cycle
thinking. UNEP Industry and Environment (joint edition combining
Sustainable Building & Construction). UNEP, 26 (2-3), 57-62.

❏

Environment Agency (EA). (2003). Integrated Appraisal Methods.
Final Report . EA, Bristol.

❏

Graedel, T.E. (1998) Streamlined Life-Cycle Assessment . Prentice Hall,
New Jersey.

❏

ISO (2000) Life Cycle Assessment - Principles and Guidelines . ISO CD
14 0402. International Standard Organization, Geneva.

❏

Handbook 5, The LUDA Assessment Decision Support System . http://
www.luda- europe.net/hb5/files/method_descriptions/pdf/new/
life_cycle_assessment.pdf

BREEAM - Building Research Establishment
Environmental Assessment Method
BREEAM is a scheme for environmental labelling of buildings devel-
oped by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in collaboration
with a number of private sector sponsors. The basis of the scheme is a
certificate awarded to individual buildings stating clearly the perform-
ance of the building against a set of defined environmental criteria. The
scheme is voluntary and self-financing. Assessment is carried out by
independent assessors licensed by BRE.
The first version, launched in 1990, was for new office buildings
assessed at the design scheme stage. This was updated in 1993 to reflect
developing knowledge and experience gained in the operation of the