Our Sustainable Construction Policy requires any new building constructed by BU to meet or exceed a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and for refurbishments to meet or exceed BREEAM ’Very good’.
BREEAM is an internationally recognised certification for the sustainability of buildings, environmentally and socially, and by having these requirements built into our practice we ensure that our new and existing buildings are as energy-efficient as possible. A prime example of this is the Student Centre which, when built, became the highest BREEAM rated building in Dorset.
All of our buildings have Display Energy Certificates (DECs). The DEC’s are based on a range of factors that vary across every building, such as energy used to run the building per square metre, and are benchmarked against similar buildings. Each building is provided with a score rating of 0–150+, with highest ranking buildings having the lowest score, as well as a letter grading between A and G. The average DEC score is around 100. BU’s average 2019 building DEC was a C rating with a score of 66.
Our Team also work regularly with Maintenance staff to monitor the temperature and ventilation of each area in our Building Management System (BMS), in order to keep our campuses comfortable for users in the most energy-efficient way possible.
You can read more about the environmental impact of our buildings on the Sustainable Campuses page.