The Building Research Establishment (BRE) has launched a fresh assessment method for construction projects, in a bid to help developers make assets more sustainable and resilient.
BREEAM New Construction Version 7 (NC V7) is said to integrate global best practices on whole-life carbon, biodiversity, resilience, and material selection to empower developers, designers, and sustainability professionals.
BRE provides research, advice, training, testing, certification and standards for both public and private sector organisations in the UK and abroad.
Tom Wilson, head of BREEAM development at BRE, said: “BREEAM NC V7 comes at a time when sustainability is no longer just about compliance, but about the need to protect and enhance long-term portfolio value too.
“By strengthening BREEAM’s focus on whole-life carbon, including embodied carbon assessments, NC V7 provides a more complete and accurate understanding of an asset’s true carbon impact.
“We understand how important it is that building and sustainability professionals can demonstrate their portfolios are resilient against climate risks both now and in the future. NC V7 helps them do exactly this.”
In 2024, climate events caused over $368 billion in economic losses worldwide. Meanwhile, it has been estimated that climate change could result in $1.47 trillion in net property value losses owing to rising insurance costs and changing consumer demand.
The updated standard includes expanded whole-life carbon assessments, which provide more rigorous operational and embodied carbon benchmarking, enabling asset owners, clients and estate managers to gain an accurate picture of an asset’s impact at every stage of its lifecycle and identify new opportunities for carbon reduction.
BREEAM NC V7 also incorporates improved climate resilience criteria – focusing on extreme weather preparedness and risk mitigation – and places a greater focus on biodiversity, ensuring projects contribute positively to local ecosystems.
Across 104 countries, there are more than 2.9 million BREEAM registered buildings and 1 million BREEAM certified buildings.