Sections

Shortlist criteria

The initial shortlist for the project categories for the Awards is created by taking the highest scoring projects certified under BREEAM each year. For most categories this will mean a shortlist of six buildings.

Projects must be certified between 21 November 2020 – 19 November 2021 to be considered for the 2022 awards shortlist.

The project teams, led by the BREEAM Assessor, will then invited to submit a case study outlining the reasons why they should win the much coveted award.

The shortlisted projects, represent the highest examples of independently certified projects, which are excelling in every category of BREEAM.  Where there are insufficient leading edge projects identified during shortlisting or case studies submitted for a category, BRE reserve the right to withdraw the category from the judging for this year.

Judging day

The judging takes place in early February, the BREEAM Awards and commendations are awarded to the projects that, in the view of the judging panel, provide the best balance between high performance, replicability, innovation and the degree to which the project has gone beyond what would normally be expected for a similar project.

The judging panel as indicated below comprise of independent experts drawn from all parts of the property and construction industry. BRE chairs the panel, but does not take an active role in judging except in circumstances where there is a tie or the panel is unable to come to a majority verdict.

The Your BREEAM public: You will have the opportunity to nominate a BREEAM certified project for this category, it does not have to have been shortlisted in any other BREEAM Awards category. Further details to follow

Case study submission 

If you are shortlisted, you will be contacted by the awards team in December and invited to submit a case study by mid January which will be put before a panel of independent judges.

The case studies submitted by the project team or Assessor will be judged on the basis of:

  • The balanced achievement of high levels of performance against the breadth of sustainability criteria covered in BREEAM
  • The degree to which the applicant has gone beyond typical or normal practice in design and construction, refurbishment or management.  This will take account of the nature of the project, complexity of the functional requirements and the level of budget available as well as the degree of innovation that is demonstrated by the submission.
  • The replicability of the solutions adopted for other projects in the sector through the dissemination of best practice (including design; technology; construction; management practices; skills; new understanding; research; monitoring of performance; occupant behaviour).

The BREEAM Award for each category is awarded to the submission that, in the collective view of the judging panel, most successfully meets and balances these factors.

Voting decisions are based on the content and clarity of these submissions only and any additional knowledge of the schemes or buildings concerned is put to one side. Where projects are judged to fall below the winner but are, never the less, seen as exemplary the judging panel may choose to highly commend up to two other submissions in the category. In the event of a tie a joint award may be given at the discretion of the Chair.

Judges will be asked to declare any potential conflicts of interest arising from links to any of the submissions or the projects that they refer to.  Where a real or perceived conflict of interest exists the Chair may require the judge to abstain from that category vote.

GRESB judging criteria

Responsible Investment Awards

The BREEAM Awards recognise the achievement of those involved in the specification, design, construction and management of BREEAM certified buildings.

GRESB and BREEAM are working together to recognize the achievement of real estate investors in three categories:

  1. Large Portfolio [> 1 bn EUR GAV]
  2. Small Portfolio [< 1 bn EUR GAV]

Judging criteria

In 2022, the candidates for the BREEAM Awards are selected based on a data-driven, objective approach using the 2021 GRESB Assessment data. The GRESB Team has created an overall BREEAM Awards Score to determine nominations based on different criteria described in detail below. The top 5 portfolios per category (Large Portfolio and Small Portfolio) were shortlisted based on their BREEAM Awards Score. The winner in each category will be chosen based on the highest performing BREEAM Awards Score for each category.

The criteria to create the BREEAM Awards Score:

A. Percentage of BREEAM certified area within a portfolio. This includes certifications at time of construction (BREEAM New Construction) and operational certifications (BREEAM In Use).
B. GRESB Score as a measure of holistic ESG performance and demonstrated commitment to sustainability by the fund manager / listed company.
C. Building Certification Score as a benchmarked indicator of adoption of building certifications and energy ratings. This reflects the third-party verified recognition of sustainability performance in new construction, refurbishment and operations.
D. Asset Score calculated based on the quintile distribution of the number of assets within a portfolio as a measure of difficulty to achieve high coverage percentages for building certifications.
E. BREEAM Improvement Score calculated based on the quintile distribution of the year-on-year improvement of the percentage of BREEAM certified portfolio area.