Targets for Public Sector Buildings

The Sustainable Development Commission recently carried out a wide-ranging audit of central government operations, including central government departments and executive agencies. The audit aimed to identify, monitor and mitigate the overall environmental impacts from the central government estate, which comprises over 17 million m2 of office floor space, employing over 650,000 employees. The government has now set targets to be achieved within its own estate in relation to new build or refurbishment. You can apply the results from the Sustainable Development Commission’s work your own estate. Some of the headline targets identified and agreed for government estate buildings include:


  • Water consumption should be reduced to an average of 3m 3 per person/year for all new office builds or major office refurbishments. This will be a one off assessment for the first year of occupation.

  • All new builds and major refurbishments should meet the Building Research Establishment's (BRE) Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) “excellent” standard or equivalent ¹.

  • All departments should conduct sustainability appraisals of office relocations.

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¹Departments should define what a new build and major refurbishment is for their own estate. An appropriate environmental assessment process such as BREEAM or an equivalent (e.g. CEEQUAL, DREAM etc.) appropriate to the size, nature and impact of the project must be carried out on all projects. Where BREEAM is used, all new projects are to achieve an “excellent” rating and all refurbishment projects are to achieve at least “very good” rating, unless site constraints or project objectives mean that this requirement conflicts with the obligation to achieve value for money. Where an alternative environmental assessment methodology is used, projects should seek to achieve equivalent ratings