Spanish buildings to go BREEAM

Buildings in Spain could soon be built to BREEAM standards after an agreement to bring the scheme to the country.


BRE Global, the independent regulatory arm of the BREEAM scheme, has signed an agreement with Instituto Tecnológico de Galicia (ITG) to develop the scheme in Spain.

ITG, a not-for-profit institution founded in 1991 by groups of architects and engineers, is linked to several colleges and universities.

It will be tasked with developing a ‘BREEAM Spain methodology, certification and assessor training’ under the guidance of BRE Global.

BREEAM director, Martin Townsend, said: “We are excited about the prospect of working with ITG and a wide range of Spanish stakeholders including local government to develop a local standard based on our knowledge and experience in increasing the sustainability of buildings.

“We will be working together to adapt BREEAM for the Spanish market – BREEAM’s great strength is that it is a flexible and adaptable tool to work with.”

ITG’s director general, Carlos Calvo, said: “As a starting point we will be looking to introduce versions of the very successful BREEAM schemes for new and existing buildings and also the new scheme covering communities.

“This is the start of a long partnership with BRE Global in Spain, which will also contribute towards the wider goal of developing common rating tools in Europe.”

BREEAM is now used extensively in a wide range of countries throughout Europe, in October last year the Dutch Green Building Council announced it was adopting it.

And last month BRE Global concluded a ‘memorandum of understanding’ to work with the CSTB to align HQE and BREEAM in France

Luke Walsh

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