BREEAM – what is the price?

A number of studies confirm that the construction of a green building can well be accommodated within the project budget with the usual specifications. Studies have been conducted in countries with developed green building technologies such as: USA, UK, Singapore, Canada - buildings constructed according to standard specifications (legal compliance) and buildings constructed according to generally accepted green building standards such as BREEAM and LEED were compared. If international standards are used in countries with less developed environmental technologies (Russia and CIS countries), the cost of green buildings may increase.

A comparison of studies conducted between 2008 and 2012 shows that the "green allowance" has been decreasing over time. This is not surprising - the construction industry is gradually building up the potential of green technologies, and technology providers are offering new economically viable solutions. Awareness of specialists is gradually increasing, they accept the principles of green building and strive to improve their skills.

Any investor and developer (even before certification) faces clear questions: how much will it cost, what benefits will it bring? In order to understand the cost, it is necessary to have a clear idea of the certification process as well as the requirements that will affect the project budget. The cost of certification according to international green standards consists of three components:
- the cost of contributions to the certification body (for BREEAM it is BRE Global);
- the cost of additional consulting and design services;
- additional construction costs related to the implementation of certification works.

Contributions to the certifying authority

The amount of contributions to BRE Global is determined by the certifying authority and does not depend on the appraiser company or the location of the facility.

Contributions to BRE Global appear at the stage of project registration (official application to BRE Global) and at the stage of submitting evaluation reports to the certifying authorities.

As a rule, these contributions are included in the appraiser's contract and are paid directly to BRE Global by the appraiser on the basis of a licensing agreement.

The amount of the fee is divided according to the functional purpose of the facility and its area:

• small objects - up to 5 000 m2 (1 to 100 residential units for residential properties);
• average - 5,000-50,000 m2 (100 to 1,000 residential units);
• large - more than 50,000 m2 (more than 1,000 residential units).

The functional purpose of the objects is divided into non-residential (the cost of the contribution depends on the area), residential (the cost of the contribution depends on the number of residential units) and non-standard (Bespoke). In the case of Bespoke certification (development of individual criteria), the fee increases, but this type of certification applies only to objects with unique functional purpose - for example, for stadiums.

The main value that a developer gets when paying contributions to BRE Global is an independent, international quality assessment of the project, as well as awarding the international BREEAM brand. In principle, a developer can build a building without official confirmation of the rating, but only an official certificate can confirm to the consumer the quality of the purchased or rented object.

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