05. Designing for durability and resilience

(1 credit)

Aim

To recognise and encourage adequate protection of exposed elements of the building and landscape, therefore minimising the frequency of replacement and maximising materials optimisation.

Assessment criteria

The following is required to demonstrate compliance:

One credit

Protecting vulnerable parts of the building from damage

1

The building incorporates suitable durability and protection measures, or designed features or solutions to prevent damage to vulnerable parts of the internal and external building and landscaping elements. This must include, but is not necessarily limited to:

1.a

Protection from the effects of high pedestrian traffic in main entrances, public areas and thoroughfares (corridors, lifts, stairs, doors etc.)

1.b

Protection against any internal vehicular or trolley movement within 1m of the internal building fabric in storage, delivery, corridor and kitchen areas

1.c

Protection against, or prevention from, any potential vehicular collision where vehicular parking and manoeuvring occurs within 1m of the external building façade for all car parking areas and within 2m for all delivery areas.

Protecting exposed parts of the building from material degradation

2

Existing and newly specified materials or newly constructed elements (e.g. a new external wall) within the scope of refurbishment or fit-out works incorporate appropriate design and specification measures to limit material degradation due to environmental factors. See Mat 05 Designing for durability and resilience.

See Table 57 in the Checklists and tables section for a list of applicable elements, environmental factors and material degradation effects to consider.

Checklists and tables

Table 57: Applicable building elements, environmental factors and material degradation effects to consider

Applicable building elements, environmental factors and material degradation effects

Applicable building elements

1. Foundation, substructure, lowest floor, retaining walls
2. External walls
3. Roof or balconies
4. Glazing: windows, skylight
5. External doors
6. Railings or balusters (where exposed to external environment)
7. Cladding (where exposed to external environment)
8. Staircases or ramps (where exposed to external environment)
9. Hard landscaping.

Environmental factors

1. Environmental agents, including:
   1. Solar radiation
   2. Temperature variation
   3. Water or moisture
   4. Wind
   5. Precipitation, e.g. rain and snow
   6. Extreme weather conditions: high wind speeds, flooding, driving rain, snow
2. Biological agents, including:
   1. Vegetation
   2. Pests, insects
3. Pollutants, including:
   1. Air contaminants
   2. Ground contaminants.

Material degradation effects (includes, but not necessarily limited to the following)

1. Corrosion
2. Dimensional change, e.g. swelling or shrinkage
3. Fading or discolouration
4. Rotting
5. Leaching
6. Blistering
7. Melting
8. Salt crystallisation
9. Abrasion.

Compliance notes

Ref	Terms	Description
CN0.1	Part 1: Fabric and structure	All assessment criteria in this issue are applicable.
CN0.2	Part 2: Core services	This issue is not applicable
CN0.3	Part 3: Local services	This issue is not applicable
CN0.4	Part 4: Interior design	Criteria 1 , 1.a and 1.b Criteria 1.c and 2 are not applicable
General
CN1	Historic buildings	For heritage buildings and buildings in a local or national conservation area, measures to protect vulnerable parts of the building from damage (criterion 1 ) and to limit material degradation (criterion 2 ) should be based on the measures that are feasible within the scope of any heritage requirements that may be explicitly required by the relevant conservation authority (e.g. the local authority heritage office). This should consider the range of options that may be feasible in order to demonstrate compliance with justification provided, including reference to documentary evidence to verify any restrictions that are in place that prevent compliance with any durability measures (including those specified in CN2).
CN2	Suitable durability measures. See criterion 1 .	Suitable durability and protection measures to vulnerable parts of the building can include: Bollards or barriers, or raised kerbs to delivery and vehicle drop-off areas Robust external wall construction, up to 2m high Protection rails to walls of corridors Kick plates or impact protection (from trolleys etc.) on doors Hard-wearing and easily washable floor finishes in heavily used circulation areas (i.e. main entrance, corridors, public areas etc.) Designing out the risk without the need for additional materials specification to protect vulnerable areas.
CN2.1	Vehicle impact protection. See criterion 1.c.	Any vehicle impact protection measures specified must be positioned at an adequate distance from the building to protect the fabric from impact from any vehicle with a measurable overhang of the body from the wheel track, in particular for any goods delivery areas. In vehicle movement areas only: where the external robust wall construction is specified to comply with the credit, additional protection must be provided to ensure against potential damage to the robust façade from vehicle movement, i.e. specifying bollards or protection rails.
CN2.2	Preventing excessive material use	The specification or design measures chosen should reflect the need to balance the additional specification of materials with the need to protect building elements to minimise their replacement, insuring against excessive material use and promoting materials optimisation. See Mat 06 Material efficiency.
CN2.3	Public or common areas	Consideration should be given to materials specification in public or common areas (especially public waiting areas and toilet areas) to provide protection against potential malicious or physical abuse, as far as possible.
CN2.4	Minor repair work	Where conducting minor repair work and the material use accounts for less than 1m³ per 1000m² of gross internal floor area, this can be excluded from the assessment.

Methodology

Protecting exposed parts of the building from material degradation

The following outlines the process to assess criterion 2 for newly specified materials and construction elements:

1. Identify from the list of 'applicable building elements' under Table 57 the elements that are appropriate to the building being assessed.
2. Establish from the 'environmental factors' list those factors that are likely to cause material degradation effects in the identified newly specified applicable building elements.
3. Confirm the design and specification measures in place to limit these degradation effects.
4. The assessor should use their professional judgment in determining whether the design team have adequately demonstrated that they have designed and specified materials or measures which will be effective in preventing unnecessary deterioration, so reducing frequent replacements, repairs and maintenance through the life cycle of the building.
5. At post-construction stage, where the design and specification measures installed differ from that proposed at design stage, the assessor must ensure that these measures still meet the aims of the criterion as detailed in point 6.

The following outlines the process to assess criterion 2 for existing elements:

1. Identify from the list of 'applicable building elements' under Table 57 the existing elements that are appropriate to the building being assessed.
2. Existing applicable building elements (see Table 57) have been surveyed have been assessed to identify impacts of material degradation effects including an assessment to grade the severity of any degradation effects. Design and specification measures have been developed to repair and protect existing elements according to the severity of any degradation affects, to limit degradation. Where it is not feasible to implement measures to limit material degradation for existing elements, justification should be provided.
3. Where existing elements with signs of environmental degradation are outside of the scope of refurbishment works, check that confirmation has been provided from design team that the severity of any degradation is low or that justification has been provided by the design team regarding the feasibility of any measures.

Evidence

Criteria	Interim design stage	Final post-construction stage
All	One or more of the appropriate evidence types listed in 4.0 The BREEAM evidential requirements can be used to demonstrate compliance with these criteria.

Additional information

Relevant definitions

Materials efficiency

Refer to BREEAM issue Mat 06 Material efficiency

Other information

None.

BREEAM International Non-Domestic Refurbishment 2015
Reference: SD225 – Issue: 1.4
Date: 27/04/2017
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