Collaboration will ramp up activity and research to improve buildings’ environmental credentials

construction site

Source: shutterstock.com

The BRE has joined forces with the US Green Building Council swap ideas on benchmarking and raise sustainability standards across the construction industry.

BRE runs BREEAM, while the USGBC oversees LEED, and together both environmental programmes have certified the assessments of around 640,000 buildings in more than 160 countries worldwide.

BRE’s partnership with Washington DC-based USGBC aims to increase the measurement and reporting of buildings’ well-being impact, establish common data standards and create simpler and smarter digital platforms, and conduct research into improving sustainability in new and existing buildings around the world.

Both will continue to run the schemes separately while their partnership is in place and the two bodies stressed their new relationship did not signal a convergence of UK and US standards.

Niall Trafford, BRE’s chief executive, said the collaboration would enable his organisation to “extend its reach and impact around the world”.