What is a BREEAM pre-assessment?
An early, credit-by-credit appraisal of your scheme against the applicable BREEAM manual — scoring every issue as targeted, potential or excluded, weighting the nine categories, and showing the route to your target rating. Councils ask for it with planning applications because it proves the rating in your planning statement is actually achievable.
When does planning require one?
When your council’s local plan sets a BREEAM requirement — common examples include Birmingham (Excellent for major offices), York, Manchester and numerous London boroughs (typically Very Good or Excellent for major non-residential schemes) — or when a condition on your consent requires a pre-assessment or interim certificate. Check the policy wording; we cite it in the report.
Which BREEAM scheme applies to my project?
Registration date and use decide it: projects registered from 27 January 2026 fall under UK New Construction V7 (restructured issues and rating bands from 25%); earlier registrations stay on V6.1. New self-contained homes use BREEAM Residential V6.1, and non-domestic refurbishment or fit-out uses the RFO scheme. The pre-assessment states which applies and why.
What do the ratings actually require?
Each band needs both a weighted score — 55% for Very Good, 70% for Excellent, 85% for Outstanding — AND a set of mandatory minimum-standard credits that get stricter as the band rises. Strategies that count points but miss a minimum standard fail at certification; our tracker checks both.
Is this the same as BREEAM certification?
No — certification is issued by BRE through a licensed assessor at design and post-construction stage. The pre-assessment is the planning-stage strategy document (no registration required), and our design stage calculations give your appointed assessor a scored, evidenced starting point — saving fees and redesign later.
What are BREEAM design stage calculations?
The scored side of the strategy: every targeted credit calculated with its category weighting and totalled against your target band, updated as the drawings develop. BREEAM design stage calculations bridge the planning-stage pre-assessment and the formal design stage assessment — your licensed assessor starts from a scored, evidenced position instead of a blank workbook, which is where most of the certification fee and redesign risk is saved.
What does a pre-assessment cost and how fast is it?
Industry pricing for a standalone pre-assessment typically runs around £2,000; ours is quoted fixed before you commit, with no advance payment, and typically delivered in 3–5 working days from your drawings.
