LEED contender?
C
Why is the long-established UK green building rating system, BREEAM, being nudged out of the global limelight by its smaller, younger US rival, LEED?
Carina Bailey investigates
onsidering its high profile, you could be forgiven for thinking that LEED is the definitive global leader among the existing environmental standards for
buildings. The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design certification was launched by the US Green Building Council as a pilot programme in 1998, and was based on the UK’s BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method). BREEAM, created 10 years earlier, now has around
116,000 buildings certified worldwide, against LEED’s 1,350. Indeed, LEED currently holds a relatively niche position in the UK and European markets, according to some experts. So why all the hype about LEED? Ivan Rodriguez, technical director at URS Corp,
believes much of it is down to the sheer size of its marketing potential: ‘In the UK we have about 10,000 people who have been trained for BREEAM. LEED has about 130,000 LEED assessors – so the marketing potential for LEED is huge.’ Rodriguez also believes it is easier to become a LEED
accredited professional (AP) compared with BREEAM, particularly as the training doesn’t usually have to be squeezed around full-time employment. Chris Twinn, director of consultants Ove Arup and
Partners, says LEED’s openness is another factor in its apparently high profile. ‘The way information is presented in LEED is a lot more transparent than BRE
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CIBSE Journal May 2010
and BREEAM. This fosters a lot of spin-off research. Universities examine the data, coming up with trends and looking at some of the cost benefits – which you don’t see with BREEAM.’ With LEED, you can find out what credits count
for different ratings – information which isn’t forthcoming from BREEAM. LEED also appears to be more corporate friendly, with many global companies choosing it over BREEAM. Globally, BREEAM International accounts for just
one per cent of registered projects – and that figure drops to even less for certified ones. According to Rodriguez, BREEAM has about 350 trained assessors for 24 countries, with around 133 buildings currently registered. But BREEAM appears to have even less clout in the Middle East. A decree by United Arab Emirates vice president
and Prime Minister of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has meant that since 2008 all new buildings in Dubai have had to apply the ‘highest international standards’ of sustainability. Dubai World, one of the government’s investment companies, has since conducted the largest research programme in the Middle East for new sustainably certified buildings and found LEED to be the most suitable system, says Chris Nunn, associate director, sustainability, at Faithful+Gould. Dubai World is now set to launch its own rating
system, World Energy and Environmental System for Development, Optimization and Measurement (WESDOM), which is based on LEED. Crucially, its minimum rating will be compulsory for all Dubai World projects, which will also have to be revalidated every year – in contrast to both BREEAM and LEED. Says Nunn: ‘Dubai World hasn’t just taken LEED off the shelf, it’s adapted the standard. It has set minimum
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