This consultation is now closed.

Responsible Sourcing of Construction Materials

The responsible sourcing of construction materials is an increasingly discussed topic in sustainable construction. Responsible sourcing considers a wide range of sustainability issues across entire material supply chains, and by doing so encompasses various elements of resource stewardship, corporate responsibility and sustainable procurement practice. Since the mid-1990s BRE has supported responsible sourcing by awarding credits within its building assessment schemes, including BREEAM and Ecohomes. The document available for download on the right hand side of this page provides a brief history of responsible sourcing certification schemes (RSCS) in the UK and an overview of responsible sourcing in BREEAM (see ‘Background information on the evaluation of RSC schemes within BREEAM v2.0’ in the downloads section to the right).

News: The consultation on phase 2 has now closed. The final scoring mechanism and a revised list of recognised responsible sourcing certification schemes and scores will be published by the end of 2015.

Evaluation of responsible sourcing certification (RSC) schemes within BREEAM

Background

To enable a variety of sector schemes to develop, BREEAM needs to be able to respond to the changing scope of the associated standards; and transparently and objectively compare the performance achieved under schemes developed using different framework structures. For this reason BRE Global has undertaken a ‘root and branch’ review of the treatment of responsible sourcing standards within BREEAM. The outcome of this review is a fair and balanced set of criteria against which all schemes can be evaluated and compared regardless of the specific nature of the sector covered.

BRE Global has chosen to adopt BS 8902 Responsible Sourcing Sector Certification Schemes for Construction Products: Specification (BSI, 2009) as the basis for these criteria as it provides a consensus on the specifications of a robust responsible sourcing scheme. Elements of the UK Government Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) review structure are also integrated into the criteria to enable full consideration of both management and performance based standards to be carried out. It is important that the selected criteria are broadly accepted as being fair and representative of the risks and opportunities that exist in differing sectors.

Phase 1 – Development of the Criteria for the evaluation of RSC schemes within BREEAM (now complete)

Two consultations were carried out on proposals by BRE for the criteria for the evaluation of RSC schemes within BREEAM. All the comments received in the two consultations were analysed and considered in formulating the final version of the criteria for the evaluation of RSC schemes used to produce the current list of BREEAM recognised RSC schemes.

The first stage consultation closed in August 2013 and responses have been analysed. A summary of comments submitted and a synopsis of BRE Global’s responses can be downloaded from the Archived Documents section.
The second stage consultation closed on 4 April 2014. A summary of comments submitted and a synopsis of BRE Global’s responses can be downloaded on the right hand side of this page (see ‘Criteria for the evaluation of RSC schemes within BREEAM – Synopsis of second consultation’ in the Downloads panel to the right).

The criteria developed in phase 1 can be found here Criteria for the evaluation of RSC schemes within BREEAM v3.0

Following completion of the criteria, the first round of evaluation of RSC schemes was completed and the list of recognised schemes can be found here

The current list is applicable to the following BREEAM schemes

BREEAM UK New Construction 2014 scheme
BREEAM UK Non-Domestic Refurbishment & Fit-Out 2014
BREEAM UK Domestic Refurbishment 2014
BREEAM International New Construction 2013
BREEAM UK New Construction 2011

Phase 2 – A scoring mechanism for differentiating between RSC schemes within BREEAM (Consulation now closed)

During phase 1 (see above) it was decided that the development of a scoring mechanism that will permit the differentiation of evaluated RSC schemes within BREEAM should be postponed and, consequently, the current list of recognised RSC schemes and their respective scores is an interim one.

BRE has now developed a proposed scoring mechanism which was consulted on during the summer of 2015.

This work is on-going but we envisage that the final scoring mechanism and a revised list of recognised schemes and scores will be published by the end of 2015 and will be applied to all currently operating BREEAM schemes with immediate effect. On-going BREEAM assessments will be able to use the current scores for a transition period (to be determined).

Applying for a RSC scheme to be recognised within BREEAM

BRE Global invites operators of schemes not currently recognised in BREEAM to apply for inclusion in the List of BREEAM Recognised RSC Schemes. A fee will be charged for the evaluation of applications (further information is contained in the Self–assessment Information Pack below).

To help with this process, the following documents are made available for the scheme operators to download for use and references:

Criteria for the evaluation of RSC schemes within BREEAM v3.0
The evaluation of RSC schemes within BREEAM – Evaluation and Appeals Process v1.0
Assessing the responsible sourcing of materials within BREEAM UK New Construction 2014
Self-assessment Information Pack V1.2 (download on the right hand side)

The scheme operators must use the Self-assessment Information Pack V1.2 which is downloadable from this webpage to submit their application.

The completed self-assessment information pack should be sent by email to Alan Yates [email protected], or by post to: Alan Yates, Technical Director, BRE Global, Watford, WD25 9XX

Consultation Information

Two rounds of consultation have been carried out for the recognition of responsible sourcing certification schemes (RSCS) within BREEAM as follows:

The first consultation closed in August 2013 and
The second consultation closed in April 2014

The responses to these consultations have been used to refine and finalise the criteria for evaluation of RSCS. The consultation documents can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Phase 1 Evaluations

BRE Global has completed a detailed review of responsible sourcing certification schemes (RSCS), and published a list of those that are now recognised by the BREEAM New Construction 2014 scheme in GN18. Full details of the criteria used and the process followed can be downloaded here.

A summary table setting out the full results for all schemes evaluated can be found here.

Six schemes have been evaluated in this exercise. To ensure that the process is fair and transparent, BRE Global has published the Scheme Operators submission, a list of supporting evidence provided and BRE Global’s verification report. The evaluation documentation can be viewed by clicking on the relevant link. Schemes are listed in alphabetical order.