Edition 2020 Ninth edition

4. Developing "green" standards for property
4.1. "Green buildings"
4.1.1. 
A "green" or "sustainable building" is one that is identified as using resources such 
as energy, water, materials and land more efficiently than buildings constructed 
to existing minimum standards. It may produce less waste and fewer emissions 
and potentially offers a better internal working environment, benefitting health, 
comfort and usefulness with fewer contaminants despite being more airtight. 
As sustainability expects that the needs of the present should not compromise 
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, green buildings should 
also take social, ecological and environmental issues into account. That broader 
definition includes external effects and the impact across generations and so the 
property's life cycle.
4.1.2. 
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 
(ASHRAE), in conjunction with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North 
America (IES) and the US Green Building Council (USGBC) published a standard for 
the design of high-performance green buildings in February 2010. Standard 189.1, 
"Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise 
Residential Buildings". Since updated and underpinning the International Green 
Construction Code 2018, it stated:
"A high performance green building is a building designed, constructed and capable 
of being operated in a manner that increases environmental performance and eco-
nomic value over time, seeks to establish an indoor environmental performance 
that supports the health of occupants, and enhances satisfaction and productivity 
of occupants through integration of environmental-preferable building materials, 
and water-efficient and energy efficient systems."
4.1.3. 
That definition shows that the concept of sustainability is far from precise when 
applied to buildings which themselves vary enormously in design, construction 
and use while different users will have their own concerns which may change 
over time.
4.1.4. 
The following may serve as a general checklist:
•
Location — where relevant, is it accessible by public transport as well as 
private means?
•
The existing land use of a site for development — there may be such issues as 
contamination or water management;

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The risks to a building from threats to its location such as flooding or earth-
quakes or those caused by its siting and design (as with flooding from 
hard surfaces);
•
The design and layout of a building, covering issues from its expected life to 
its energy management, including materials (source, recycling, type, life) and 
resource efficiency;
•
Its quality as a working environment and so its impact on occupiers' health and 
efficiency, which can include ventilation and lighting;
•
Energy efficiency and sourcing;
•
Water efficiency;
•
Waste management;
•
The building's resilience to potentially rising costs of energy, water and 
waste management.
4.2. Certification of buildings and green rating tools
4.2.1. 
A number of approaches have been launched for rating buildings against defined 
environmental standards, some statutory and others voluntary, offering standard-
ised assessment and certification for green and energy-efficient buildings. There 
are around 30 voluntary rating systems worldwide that try to meet the conceptual 
complexity of the term "sustainability". Perhaps inevitably, they are overwhelmingly 
focused on new or heavily renovated buildings.
4.2.2. 
Internationally recognised schemes offering a more useful common standard for 
international investors include:
•
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment 
Method) which scores the performance of a building for eight criteria (energy, 
transport, pollution, land use and ecology, health and welfare, and manage-
ment) whose scores are then totalled and rated. It provides different regimes 
for different uses such as industrial, retail, or schools. A new building may be 
first assessed at the design stage (with an interim certificate) and after con-
struction. It can also apply to renovations. There are four pass grades;
•
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) set by the US Green 
Building Council (USGBC) applies to new buildings and renovations scoring them 
out of 100 points, again with four final levels of certification. The main scheme's 
criteria for assessment are sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and at-
mosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality together 
with scores for innovation in design and regional priority. The USGBC issued 
data in 2008 to show that buildings compliant with its LEED standards showed:
•
8-9 per cent lower operating costs;

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•
3.5 per cent higher occupancy rates;
•
3 per cent higher rents;
•
a 6.6 per cent higher return on investment;
•
a 7.5 per cent increase in Market Value;
but as noted elsewhere there may be many factors influencing this.
4.2.3. 
Other standards noted internationally are DGNB in Germany, CASBEE in Japan, 
Green Star, NABERS in Australia, HPIU in Ireland, HQE in France and Verde in 
Spain. Individual countries may have their own domestic standards or codes. Each 
scheme varies in what and how it assesses; all are regularly revised. Their apprais-
al methods often tend to be prescriptive rather applying underlying principles to 
form assessments.
4.2.4. 
There are few bases for assessing existing buildings. EPCs offer a prescriptive 
approach to energy ratings in the EU, while the US Building Owners and Managers 
Association has developed Go Green.
4.2.5. 
All approaches tend to be applied differently in different countries, so that even 
EPCs vary between EU member states, posing issues for international under-
standing and appraisal in comparing information.