British BREEAM

Please also click below for more general information  

on legal requirements

on VOC emission testing for ecolabels a video on VOC testing

on the meaning of VOC

BREEAM

British BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) is an approach for promoting and certifying sustainable buildings.

Motivation for having BREEAM certification of a building is to achieve higher value of a building in balance, or better sales price or better rental price with sustainability as additional argument, or to promote public perception of the company operating a BREEAM certified building, or to promote environment and health.

Credits are awarded in ten categories according to performance. These credits are then added together to produce a single overall score on a scale of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding.

BREEAM and products

Products cannot be BREEAM certified. Only buildings can.

Use of low emitting materials is helping to achieve points for improving indoor air quality. Motivation of product manufacturers to show that their product can support collecting BREEAM points ("BREEAM compliance") is that they can sell their products to those who want to achieve BREEAM certification of their building. But BREEAM does not foresee any type of "BREEAM compliance" attestation of a product.

Regarding indoor air quality, use of low emitting products inside the building will be helpful for achieving a point if the following specifications have been proved by testing:

• Wooden products and any floorings:
  • E1 formaldehyde class applies, and no regulated wood preservatives are used.
• Suspended ceiling tiles:
  • E1 formaldehyde class applies, and no asbestos is used.
• Flooring adhesives:
  • No carcinogens and no sensitizers as defined in EN 13999-1 are emitted. As no testing schedule is defined in BREEAM documents, it can be assumed that this will require testing in test chamber after 1 day as specified in EN 13999 parts 2, 3, and 4, including determination of carcinogenic volatile compounds, volatile aldehydes, and volatile diisocyanates.
• Wall coverings:
  • Low emissions of formaldehyde and of vinyl chloride monomer, complying with standards EN 233, EN 234, EN 259, EN 266.
  • Migration of heavy metals and other toxic substances comply with above mentioned standards.
• Adhesive for hanging flexible wall coverings
  • No harmful substances, and preservatives used should be of minimum toxicity.
• Decorative paints and varnishes
  • VOC content as specified for phase 2 of EU Decopaint Directive. Shall be fungal and algal resistant.

Further product rating

Products may qualify for good environmental rating in general with an Environmental Profile including a  Life Cycle Assessment. Such rating can lead to listing of a product in a database of BREEAM qualified products.

Eurofins does not offer support with LCA and suggests talking with PE International or Five Winds, but there are also other qualified opportunities in the market.

For further reading

• Please see our presentation on LEED - a new challenge for low VOC emission materials, including BREEAM, as presentation slides and as paper, held at CERTECH conference on Odours and Emissions from Materials in October 2009.
• General information on BREEAM
  
  • in English - please click here.
  • in French - please click here.
  • in German - please click here.
  • in Italian - please click here.
  • in Russian - please click here.
• For more details on how BREEAM is used - please click here.
• For an overview over manuals for different types of buildings - please click here (registration required).
• For a handbook with many more details (1.2 MB) - please click here.
• For BREEAM international positioning - please click here.
• For a comparison between BREEAM and LEED with the eyes of BREEAM - please click here.
• A more general comparison between LEED, BREEAM and HQE is available in French language.

Using synergies

If a manufacturer needs VOC emission testing for markets in several countries, then Eurofins can help saving money by combining all required testing into one test setup. This service is unique in whole world. No single other testing laboratory is approved for VOC emission chamber testing both for US purposes and for European labels such as Blue Angel, EMICODE and M1, combining this with a world-wide valid ISO 17025 accreditation.

Further Information

Please contact our national organisations or our specialists for using Eurofins expertise that may help to establish sustainable and green buildings.

Order forms and testing request forms for VOC testing are available for free download here.

Your direct contacts:

Direct contact to Eurofins Product Testing A/S, the world market leader for VOC emissions chamber testing:

• Sales: Reinhard Oppl, email voc@eurofins.com
• Certification: Dr. Roland Augustin, email ccs@eurofins.com
• Testing laboratory: Thomas Neuhaus, email voc@eurofins.com