Sustainability case study

Barnfield College

Background 

We were appointed by Equals to be the BREEAM Assessor for Barnfield College in Luton on New Bedford Road. The scheme included general and vocational teaching spaces, student services, associated administration areas and outside space. The development was assessed under the BREEAM UK New Construction 2018 scheme against the fully fitted criteria. 

Challenge

The development had to achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating. We were appointed by Equals to complete the BREEAM assessment for the Design Stage only. We were to provide advice to the design and construction team on how to achieve the most cost-effective and appropriate BREEAM credits. 

Solution

We successfully worked with Equals and the design team to meet their BREEAM targets through regular communication, BREEAM tracker updates, and the identification of additional credits to target. We provided letter templates to evidence credits to make the BREEAM process as seamless as possible for the team as we do with all of our BREEAM projects. We used the Tracker + software to keep track of the assessment and gave logins to all team members so they were able to see the assessment progress live. 

Barnfield College achieved its target ‘Very Good’ BREEAM Design Stage rating in June 2022, with an interim score of 58.40%. The assessment passed BRE’s audit procedure the first time which sped up the certification process for Equals who subsequently said “We will absolutely come back to you when we need BREEAM again.”