Understanding and actioning BRE environmental assessment method: a socio-technical approach

The following research applies a socio-technical approach to an original study of the role of BRE environmental assessment method (BREEAM) in sustainable building practice. The primary objective is to gain insight into what facilitates and what weakens professional associations to implement a sustainability agenda in a building project. It focuses on understanding different sets of meaning which underlie engagement with BREEAM and how BREEAM is actioned. To do this, the research framework draws on social network analysis. However, this research does not consider that sustainable building is merely an outcome of planned action. Instead, sustainable building is seen to involve processes of engagement amongst different groups, technologies, materials and methods. Therefore, the conceptual framework adopted incorporates consideration of the materiality of sustainable building engagements, highlighting the relations between actors. Interviews with project professionals involved in a case study of a BREEAM Outstanding development provide the empirical basis for this work. This research will be of interest to scholars interested in socio-technical approaches to building development, environmental building assessment methods and sustainable building.