BREEAM recognizes three certification programs for compliance with VOC criteria

by Brianna Crandall — August 17, 2015—The U.K.-based BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) for sustainable buildings has approved the use of three third-party certification programs for the purpose of demonstrating compliance with the BREEAM criteria for “volatile organic compound (VOC) emission levels (products).”

The schemes and their operators are:

• SCS Global Services:
• FloorScore
• Indoor Advantage Gold – Building Materials
• UL LLC
• GREENGUARD Certified/GREENGUARD Gold

“This approval means that BREEAM is now recognizing three more certification schemes which address the issue of VOCs in construction and fit-out products. We are pleased to recognize these world-leading schemes from SCS and UL,” commented Alan Yates, technical director for BREEAM.

This additional means of compliance is applicable for the following current BREEAM programs and can also be retrospectively applied to superseded versions of these schemes that include similar VOC criteria:

• BREEAM International: New Construction 2013 (Hea 02) & Non-Domestic Refurbishment and Fit-out 2015 (Hea 02)
• BREEAM U.K.: New Construction 2014 (Hea 02), Domestic Refurbishment 2014 (Hea 03) & Non-Domestic Refurbishment and Fit-out 2014 (Hea 02)