As things stand there are several sets of standards used to assess a building’s environmental credentials, including BREEAM in the UK, The USA’s LEED and the Green Star scheme widely used in Australia and South Africa.
While there are often occasions where it might be of use to compare the performance of buildings across borders, the current differences in the standards and their emphasis means this can be like comparing apples with pears.
With this in mind, the global initiative will seek to set up a system that works for any building, regardless of the local markets.
A spokesman for BRE told edie that the new scheme was not about replacing existing national standards which have been developed for specific markets and will always have a role to play.
Rather, he said, it would provide a widely-applicable tool that would make global comparisons a realistic prospect.
Sam Bond