BRE IP5/15 PDF

Introduction

BRE has played a key role in assessing the environmental impact of construction for over 20 years. In this time, interest in assessing embodied environmental impacts has increased markedly. Construction professionals understand that improvements in resource efficiency are vital in a world of finite resources, and that impacts from buildings extend well beyond the operational energy of heating, cooling and power. Although life cycle assessment (LCA) is recognised as the best way to quantify these impacts, the profusion of standards, methodologies, data sources and tools can be bewildering to non-experts.

The construction industry has also begun gearing up for the adoption of building information modelling (BIM), where 3D geometry and other types of information are combined into a single, integrated model.

The combination of these factors has paved the way for BRE and three other partners to produce IMPACT. IMPACT is not a single software application; it is a method for consistent and robust building level LCA and life cycle costing for incorporation into a wide range of design tools. The first IMPACT Compliant tool by Integrated Environmental Solutions Ltd (IES) was released a wide range of design tools. The first IMPACT Compliant tool by Integrated Environmental Solutions Ltd (IES) was released in 2013. For more information on the IMPACT project, see Box 1.