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Departmental Buildings

Volume 479: debated on Monday 21 July 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what account her Department takes of the level of energy efficiency of buildings before entering into agreements to (a) rent and (b) purchase those buildings. (220470)

The Department's sustainable operations policy states that:

“we will ensure all new builds, office relocations and major refurbishments achieve an overall BREEAM Excellent rating and specifically an Excellent rating in the areas of energy and water, unless site constraints or project objectives mean that this requirement conflicts with the obligation to achieve value for money on a whole life basis. Where site constraints or project objectives conflict with this requirement, a project should at least achieve an overall BREEAM rating of Very Good and an Excellent rating in the areas of energy and water”.

An Excellent rating in the Energy section of the BREEAM for Offices 2008 version requires significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions compared to those stipulated in the existing building regulations and assesses a building's performance against sub-metering, external lighting, lifts and low or zero carbon technologies.