GO01 - Consultation plan – Above Green

(1 credit available)

Aim

To ensure the needs, ideas and knowledge of the community are used to improve the quality of stakeholder engagement, throughout the design, planning and construction process.

Assessment Criteria

The following is required to demonstrate compliance:

Mandatory requirements

Members of the local community and appropriate stakeholders have been identified for consultation.
A consultation plan is in place and the local authority has been consulted about the plan. Consultation should take place early enough in the process for the community and stakeholders to influence key decisions.
The minimum consultation content is covered.

One credit

Criteria 1 to 3 are achieved.
An independently facilitated community consultation method will be used to engage the community on specific aspects of the design.

Compliance Notes

Ref	Terms	Description
CN1	Members of the local community and appropriate stakeholders . See criterion 1	This includes where relevant: Members of the local community Actual or intended occupants (if known) If the site is near one or more existing communities, representative consultation groups from the existing communities (this includes representatives from near by; residential areas, commercial areas such as shops, offices etc and public facilities such as schools, universities and healthcare facilities) If the site is a new development and there are no existing community representatives, representatives are sought from surrounding communities or from a similar type or size of development Potential users of any on-site or shared facilities (e.g. operators of clubs and community groups) Appropriate stakeholders Representatives from the local authority Local or national historic or heritage, ecology, cultural, residents, business groups, etc. (over and above any requirements relating to statutory consultees) Specialist service and maintenance contractors or representatives where the known building functions have particular technical requirements (e.g. buildings containing laboratories). Technical specialists Representatives of the Local and Regional authority Representative from the regional executive bodies for urban development, housing, environment and transport. This is not an exhaustive list and other appropriate stakeholders and members of community may also need to be considered for consultation.
CN2	Consultation Plan. See Criterion 2	The consultation plan can be made up of multiple documents. It is often the case that multiple consultation plans will be drawn up covering different points of time throughout the master-planning process e.g. Consultation on the initial concept, followed by consultation on the more detailed design aspects. Furthermore, often there are statutory consultation requirements that have to be met first. BREEAM Communities is flexible to this and accepts multiple documents in order to demonstrate that the requirements of this issue have been met. Where necessary links should be drawn between the different plans to ensure it supports an efficient consultation process. It is the assessors responsibility to ensure that the documents are the most up to date documents available.
CN3	Minimum consultation content . See criterion 3	The consultation plan should detail the time-scales and methods of consultation, clearly identifying: Points at which the community and other stakeholders can usefully contribute, including information relating to their level of involvement How they will be kept informed about progress on the project When feedback will be provided to stakeholders involved in the consultation process, detailing how their contributions will be accounted for The contact details of the person responsible for delivering the consultation activities and championing the outcomes in the project team The approach that will be taken to target and provide for minority and 'hard-to-reach' groups (e.g. elderly, youth, disabled and those with limited time to participate). The consultation must cover the following themes: Impacts of the development upon the surrounding community during construction and following completion Design quality Management, maintenance or operational issues Opportunities for shared use of facilities and infrastructure with the existing or adjacent community. There are a range of other assessment issues within BREEAM Communities, across Steps 1, 2 and 3 that require consultation. Not all of these issues contain mandatory criteria; however, if credits are sought for these issues, these should be reflected within the consultation plan. The issues are described in Table - 11
CN4	Facilitated community consultation method . See criterion 5	There are many methodologies available to engage communities about the formulation and design of development proposals. Where credits are sought for this criteria, the following principles should be met within the chosen methodology: the consultation exercise has a clearly communicated purpose participants understand how their views will be used in plans for the development expectations are set as to which options are open for discussion and revision reasonable advance notice is given to potential participants of the consultation exercise efforts are made to include hard-to-reach groups jargon is avoided during the consultation exercise
CN5	Independent facilitation . See criterion 5	The consultation is facilitated by a person or organisation that is independent from the developer, for example, the local authority can be a facilitator (unless they are the developer or client). Where a developer intends to use an in-house team who primarily deal with consultation, then an independent consultant is still required to lead the consultation and record outcomes.

Table - 11: Steps and issues

Step

Issue

Step 1

SE 02 – Demographic needs and priorities

Evidence

Criteria No.	Interim Assessment	Final Assessment
1–3	A copy of the consultation plan documentation.	None.
5	None.	Documentary evidence.

Additional Information

None.