Mat 01: Life Cycle Impacts (UK NC 2011 and 2014)

Life Cycle Assessment for BREEAM UK NC 2011 and 2014

This guidance supports our IMPACT-compliant and IMPACT-equivalent tools (IMPACT-equivalent has since been renamed to 'LCA for BREEAM UK'), which are designed to achieve Mat 01 exemplary credits by Route 2: Using compliant Life Cycle Assessment software tools. If you are using BREEAM UK NC 2018 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. 

The idea of the Mat 01 credit is to perform a life cycle assessment, analyze the results and report how it helped you to steer the design process to a more sustainable direction.

BREEAM UK Reporting templates

The reporting templates can be used for client reporting as well as to report how the analysis has helped to steer the design process the certification. However, they are not mandatory and other forms of reporting can be used as well. Please find the download files named as follows in the attachments at the bottom of the page:

One_Click_LCA_IMPACT_Equivalent_Result_reporting_template_for_BREEAM_UK_NC_Mat_01_LCA_29_1_2018

One_Click_LCA_IMPACT_Compliant_Result_reporting_template_for_BREEAM_UK_NC_Mat_01_LCA_29_1_2018

Completing an LCA for BREEAM UK NC compliance purposes is a straight forward process 

The required steps are:

1. Have your Building project ready and select the right tool for the calculations
2. Create a new design and give it a name of your choice. One Click LCA has two tools that support this credit “IMPACT Equivalent” (LCA for BREEAM UK) and “IMPACT Compliant”. Your license may only contain one of them or both. In that case, you can choose which you wish to use (see explanation at the end of the page).
3. Check the mandatory scope for required elements from BREEAM UK New Construction 2011 or 2014 from guidance note 8 (GN8). Ensure that materials that are required to be reported as separate building elements are identified as such.
4. 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 for material selection and finding EPDs.

Use net quantities (amounts of material installed in the building) which shall be accurate to +/- 5 %. 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 the LCA for BREEAM UK IMPACT-compliant (IMPACT-compliant tool), make sure to select RICS category for each resource and verify (if necessary, adjust) the wastage share (on-site wastage). Material quantities for site wastage should be within +/- 5% of the actual quantities. For resource selection, you can set a filter and display resources from a specific location only (by selecting Show filters and selecting Country). To choose the material data for your project you’ll have two equally good options: to use data only from BRE database or to also choose materials from other databases. You are allowed to use technically similar materials from other markets but in that case, you must apply the local compensation feature. The data localisation settings will be given in the Compensate to local conditions question form. If you only use datasets from BRE database, you must choose project localisation for the local compensation. If you have only used data from BRE database you can leave the first question empty and only choose BRE database in Methodologically consistent and regionally representative LCA data.

Remember to report the site excavation fuel use. That can be done in the Construction site operations question form.

Find the compliance documentation for the tool here.

Leave the Energy and Water consumption question forms empty.

If you are using the LCA for BREEAM UK IMPACT-compliant (IMPACT-compliant tool), you have access exclusively to IMPACT average building material database, enabled only for this indicator. The reporting uses automatic grouping based on resource type linked to each material. Find the compliance documentation for the tool here.

Additionally, you are required to fill in the Energy consumption question form, add ‘0’ to demonstrate that this is not reported. The Water consumption question form can be left empty.

Add 60 years to the Calculation period question form.

1. Fill in the Building area question form by entering the GIFA (Gross Internal Floor Area).
   
   
2. Click on the Results page to see the results. To get the BREEAM evidence report, click on more actions. You will then be able to download your results as an Excel spreadsheet.
   
   
3. Explain how LCA has benefited the building by following the instruction here.
   
   
4. Submit the exported Excel file to the BRE together with your BREEAM project number and name.

Two tools for BREEAM UK NC: IMPACT Compliant and IMPACT Equivalent (LCA for BREEAM UK tool)

One Click LCA has two separate calculation tool options for achieving the Mat 01 LCA credits for BREEAM UK: 'LCA for BREEAM UK' and 'LCA for BREEAM UK IMPACT-compliant'.

The main difference between these two calculation tools is the building material database: IMPACT Equivalent (LCA for BREEAM UK tool) will use material manufacturer-specific environmental product declarations while IMPACT Compliant uses IMPACT database which is an average database for UK construction materials. Additionally IMPACT Equivalent focuses on the mandatory credit scope of the materials embodied carbon impacts providing easily understandable results while IMPACT Compliant tool will include a comprehensive life cycle assessment with multiple environmental impact categories and very detailed results. The IMPACT database has a separate license and to use the IMPACT Compliant tool it will have to be separately included to your license.

The available data points in the IMPACT Compliant tool are around 260, while you will have 15.000 + options in the 'LCA for BREEAM UK' tool. For this reason, generally its more accurate to use the 'LCA for BREEAM UK' tool, as the BRE IMPACT database only has a limited amount of generic data.

BREEAM UK Material requirements

1	Substructure	1	Substructure	1	Standard foundations	Mandatory
				2	Specialist foundation systems	Mandatory
				3	Lowest floor construction	Mandatory
				4	Basement excavation (fuel use only)	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				5	Basement retaining walls (2.5.2)	Mandatory
2	Superstructure	1	Frame (other than floors)	1	Steel frames	Mandatory
				2	Space decks	Mandatory
				3	Concrete casings to steel frames	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				4	Concrete frames	Mandatory
				5	Timber frames	Mandatory
				6	Other frame systems	Mandatory
		2	Upper floors	1	Floors	Mandatory
				2	Balconies	Optional
				3	Drainage to balconies	Optional
		3	Roofs	1	Roof structure	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				2	Roof covering	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				3	Specialist roof systems	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				4	Roof drainage	Optional
				5	Rooflights, skylights and openings	Mandatory
				6	Roof features	Optional
		4	Stairs and ramps	1	Stair / Ramp structures	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				2	Stair / Ramp finishes	Optional
				3	Stair / Ramp balustrades and handrails	Optional
				4	Ladders / Chutes / Slides	Optional
		5	External walls	1	External enclosing walls above ground floor level	Mandatory
				2	External enclosing walls below ground level	Mandatory
				3	Solar / Rain screening	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				4	External soffits	Mandatory
				5	Subsidiary walls, balustrades, handrails, railings and proprietary balconies	Optional
				6	Façade access / cleaning systems	Optional
		6	Windows and external doors	1	External Windows	Mandatory
				2	External doors	Mandatory
				3	Walls and partitions	Mandatory
		7	Internal Walls and Partitions	1	Walls and partitions	Mandatory
				2	Balustrades and handrails	Optional
				3	Moveable room dividers	Optional
				4	Cubicles	Optional
		8	Internal doors	1	Internal Doors	Mandatory, can be aggregated
3	Internal finishes	1	Wall Finishes	1	Finishes to walls	Mandatory, can be aggregated
		2	Floor Finishes	1	Finishes to floors	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				2	Raised access floors	Mandatory, can be aggregated
		3	Ceiling Finishes	1	Finishes to ceilings	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				2	False ceilings	Mandatory, can be aggregated
				3	Demountable suspended ceilings	Mandatory, can be aggregated
4	Fittings, Furnishing and Equipment					Optional
5	Services (note: category may be used for operational/in-use fuel and energy use)					Optional
8	External works	2	Roads, Paths and Pavings	1	Roads, paths and pavings	Mandatory
				2	Special surfacings and pavings	Mandatory
		3	Soft Landscaping, Planting and Irrigation Systems
		4	Fencing, Railings and Walls		Fencing and railings	Mandatory
					Walls and screens	Mandatory
					Retaining walls	Mandatory
					Barriers and guardrails	Optional
		5	External fixtures			Optional
		6	External drainage			Optional
		7	External services			Optional
A5	Construction Installations (may be based on a rate per m2 NIA)					Mandatory

Attachments