Mat 01: Life Cycle Impacts (UK NC 2018)

Life Cycle Assessment for BREEAM UK NC 2018

This guidance supports ‘LCA for BREEAM UK’ and ‘LCA for BREEAM UK IMPACT-compliant’ tools, which are designed to achieve BREEAM Mat 01 seven credits and three exemplary credits. For BREEAM UK NC 2011 and 2014 versions see guidance here.

If you are working with a BREEAM UK Retrofit and fit-out (RFO) project please note that the tool you have chosen and the guidance here only apply for using One Click LCA for BREEAM UK New construction. For UK Retrofit and fit-out please choose the ‘LCA for BREEAM Int’l and RFO’ tool and check our other guidance here.

Follow these steps to complete an LCA for BREEAM UK NC 2018 compliance

Before you start: Check if the BREEAM benchmarking applies to your building type, make sure which One Click LCA calculation tool you must use, and determine in which RIBA stage you submit the calculations.

One Click LCA has two tools that support the Mat01 credit (IMPACT compliant tool and an LCA tool recognized by BREEAM), it depends on the building type which one you should use.

If you wish to achieve the Mat01 credits for offices, industrial or retail buildings with One Click LCA, you need a license that includes our IMPACT-compliant tool. This is necessary to complete the BREEAM benchmarking comparison. This does not apply for all other building types. For all other building types, you can complete your calculations with both of the tools (‘LCA for BREEAM UK’  and ‘LCA for BREEAM UK IMPACT-compliant’).

The steps are as follows:

1 - Create a project with the right calculation tools

Have your Building project ready and select the right tool for the calculations

2 - Create new design(s) and name them accordingly

Create a new design and name it according to the BREEAM requirements (see naming requirements below)

3 - Check mandatory scope

Check the mandatory scope for required elements from the scheme page 217 tables 9.1-9.3. Ensure that materials that are required to be reported as separate building elements are identified as such.

4 - Fil in calculation period (IMPACT only)

Set calculation period to 60 years by opening ‘Calculation Period’ and inputting 60 years.

(IMPACT compliant tool only, in the other BREEAM tools the service life is set to 60 years by default)

5 - Fill in the building area

Fill in the Building area question form by entering the GIFA (Gross Internal Floor Area).

6 - Input the material data

Fill in your project information in One Click LCA by entering the design either manually or by import your data (see different import options here; guidance for data import can be found here). If you need help finding the right datasets for your building materials, check our guidance pages here and here.

Use net quantities (amounts of material installed in the building) which shall be accurate to +/- 10 %. For each material, you can adjust the service life based on your product and use the Comment field for additional info (e.g. specify the construction element where the material belongs to). The name is used for report grouping and should support the user to track back to the bill of materials.

• If you are using ‘LCA for BREEAM UK IMPACT-compliant’ tool, you have access exclusively to IMPACT average building material database, enabled only for this tool. The reporting uses automatic grouping based on resource type linked to each material. Find the compliance documentation for the tool here.
• If you are using LCA for BREEAM UK tool, make sure to select RICS category for each resource and verify (if necessary, adjust) the wastage share (on-site wastage). For resource selection, you can set a filter and display resources from a specific location only (by selecting Show filters and selecting Country).
  

7 - Including energy or water

If using BREEAM UK tool - leave the energy or water consumption question forms empty
If using for BREEAM UK IMPACT-compliant tool - save ZERO for the energy consumption, water questionnaire leave empty.

• These life cycle modules are not in the scope for BREEAM UK NC 2018 Mat01 LCA credit.
  

8 - Options appraisal

For Options Appraisal submission, create your options by copying your first design (click on the name of the design and choose ‘Copy’). Change the materials of the construction elements for which you wish to create the options. Make sure that the options fulfil the same functional requirements. Analyse your results by following the instruction here and put together your options appraisal summary document.

9 - Download LCA results

Download your LCA results as a spreadsheet by clicking on the tool name on the project main page (‘Export multiple designs to Excel’) and enter your results into the Mat01/02 Results Submission Tool. Make sure to name your exported files correctly, see below the naming requirements.

Enter the further information required by the tool including (but not necessarily limited to) construction and product descriptions, quantities, service lives, transportation distances, classifications, and justification for design decisions.

If benchmarking applies to your building type, choose the ‘One Click LCA (IMPACT-compliant)’ benchmark option and the Mat 01/02 Results Submission Tool will calculate the credit award for the building.

10 - Submitting results

Submit the Mat01/02 Results Submission Tool together with the options appraisal summary document to the BRE.

If you wish to complete the process also in the Technical Design stage, complete the LCA following the same process and resubmit your calculations.

Naming requirements for BREEAM UK NC 2018

Follow the specific naming requirements as follows:

For concept design, superstructure options: Mat01_CD_SuperS_Opt1 Mat01_CD_SuperS_Opt2 Mat01_CD_SuperS_Opt3 Mat01_CD_SuperS_Opt4	For detailed design, superstructure options: Mat01_DD_SuperS_Opt1 Mat01_DD_SuperS_Opt2 Mat01_DD_SuperS_Opt3
For concept design, substructure and hard landscaping options: Mat01_CD_SubS_HL_Opt1 Mat01_CD_SubS_HL_Opt2 Mat01_CD_SubS_HL_Opt3 Mat01_CD_SubS_HL_Opt4 Mat01_CD_SubS_HL_Opt5 Mat01_CD_SubS_HL_Opt6	For concept design, building services options: Mat01_CD_BdServ_Opt1 Mat01_CD_BdServ_Opt2 Mat01_CD_BdServ_Opt3
For concept design, ‘Superstructure – Comparison with the BREEAM benchmark’ (relevant to IMPACT Compliant tools only): Mat01_CD_SuperS_B	For technical design, ‘Superstructure – Comparison with the BREEAM benchmark’ (relevant to IMPACT Compliant tools only): Mat01_DD_SuperS_B