Green Guide to Specification: An Environmental Profiling System for Building Materials and Components

by Jane Anderson, Nigel Howard

How can you tell if the materials and components you are specifying have a low environmental impact? A full life-cycle assessment is a complex, time-consuming and expensive process; the environmental ratings summarised in this Guide provide a quick and easy way for designers and specifiers to assess their options.

The relative environmental performance of over 250 materials and components have been assessed in this guide, using carefully researched, quantitative data derived from the BRE Environmental Database. A wide range of alternative specifications are provided for:

· walls
· floor systems
· floor finishes
· roofs
· windows
· doors
· ceilings
· paints
· insulation
· landscaping.

The performance of each specification is measured against a range of environmental impacts including:

· climate change
· toxicity
· fossil fuel and ozone depletion
· levels of emissions and pollutants
· mineral and water extraction.

Environmental performance is indicated by a simple to use A-B-C rating system. To further aid specifiers, guidance on capital coasts, typical replacement intervals and information on recycling is also provided for each material and component.

An important part of BREEAM, the BRE's widely accepted scheme to improve the environmental performance of buildings, The Green Guide to Specification is an essential tool for architects, surveyors, building managers and property owners seeking to reduce the environmental impacts of building materials through informed choice.

40 pages

First published January 15, 2000

About the author

Multiple authors with the same name, this author is entered with 8 spaces.

Jane Anderson has over 20 years experience in the construction field, having originally studied Architecture. She joined PE North West Europe from BRE Global in 2010 and has been involved in a number of IBU EPD projects. She has worked on the development of Life Cycle Assessment methodologies for construction products and their integration in the building level assessment tools, BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes, and co-authored the Green Guide to Specification and worked on the development of the environmental design tool, Envest2. She is an UK expert to the CEN TC 350 standards committee.