Europe has been addressing many areas of it’s infrastructure in recent years, with regulation promoting green goals of reduction of hazardous materials, improved sustainability of products, and life-cycle requirements for goods sold there. So it is no surprise that in 2011 the requirements for building materials and construction works were updated. The new BS EN 16309, “Sustainability of construction works. Assessment of social performance of buildings. Calculation methodology,” is part of that effort. It provides the specific methods and requirements for the assessment of the social performance of a building. This covers the specific areas of accessibility, adaptability, health and comfort, impacts on the neighborhood, maintenance, and safety and security.
The standard is part of a series of documents on integrated building performance. The areas that are being addressed by this series are environmental, social, economic, technical, and functional performance of buildings. For each of these concept levels, there’s corresponding documentation to cover the framework level, building level and product level.
The environmental area has been completely “built out.” And the BS EN 15643-1, BS EN 15643-2, BS EN 15643-3, and BS EN 15643-4 cover the framework level for environmental, social and economic categories. So the BS EN 16309 is the assessment document that addresses social performance at the building level.
It applies to all types of buildings, both new and existing. The standard gives requirements for:
- the description of the object of assessment,
- the system boundary that applies at the building level,
- the list of indicators and procedures for the application of these indicators,
- the presentation of the results in reporting and communication,
- the data necessary for the application of the standard, and
- verification.
It does not specify any particular valuation method. You’ll be determining your own benchmarks or assessment goals based on national requirements, other regulatory codes and so on. You’ll also note that corporate social responsibility issues are not addressed in this standard. And the issues of sourcing of materials and services and stakeholder involvement that are included in the parent document BS EN 15643-3 have been left for a future revision.
If you need a copy of this new BS EN 16309 or any European standard, head to the Document Center webstore at www.document-center.com. Or you’re welcome to contact our staff by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). We’ve been selling standards since 1982, so we can assist you with all your documentation requirements. Make us your Standards Experts!
