There are six elements which ASBP believe underpin the sustainability of construction:
Health & Well-being
How the design and approaches impact on the health and well-being of building occupants. A wide range of factors apply; including indoor air quality, daylighting, acoustic performance, incorporation of natural elements, healthy living, as well as avoidance of materials containing chemicals harmful to health.
Resource Efficiency
Sustainable use of resources in accordance with the hierarchy of reducing, reusing and recycling; including resource-efficient design and construction, use of renewable resources or secondary materials, water efficiency, flexibility of use and re-usability of elements at end of life, and circular economy models applied to materials, or the building as a whole.
Whole-life Carbon
This covers the approach to the carbon cost of the building or product. Building projects and products will evidence cradle-to-cradle thinking and a life cycle analysis approach applied throughout their design and specification, to inform significant reduction of embodied carbon in the building fabric, fit-out and services, alongside operational carbon reductions.
Ethics and Transparency
The approach reflects a commitment to sustainability; for example by transparency of supply chain and information and compliance with ethical and transparency standards. Evidence of a deep commitment to sustainability through dissemination of information and lessons learned, in the aim of encouraging others to build more sustainably.
Technical Performance
This focuses on the technical performance of a building project or product, including factors such as energy efficiency, fabric first approaches, thermal performance, insulation, thermal mass, avoidance of overheating, airtightness, ventilation and moisture control.
Social Value
Impacts on the local community; e.g. meeting priority built environment needs identified by the local community, use of supply chain to optimise local economic and social benefits, designing for people with minimum or positive impact on local biodiversity and the natural environment, and linkages to local social history and traditional built environment.