BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings around the world, with over 110,000 buildings certified and over half a million registered.These Buildings can be used to assess the environmental performance of any type of building (new and existing).It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de facto measure used to describe a building’s environmental performance. Credits are awarded in eight categories according to performance. These credits are then added together to produce a single overall score on a scale of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding which is also reflected in a star rating from 1 to 5 stars.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. owns, acquires and manages technology related real estate. The company focuses on providing Powered Base Buildings. Over 50 Fortune 500 companies rely on it to provide solutions for their data center requirements. Due to many benefits of turning a building green, Digital Realty Trust on March, 31, 2009 adopted the newly announced BREEAM(Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) standards.

Jim Smith, Chief Technology Officer for Digital Realty Trust, said, “Adopting the BREEAM standards right at the beginning of the initial design stages will not only build in reduced running costs because the building’s insulation and cooling will be optimised, but in the longer term the value of the building can be expected to be higher than a comparable building which is not BREEAM accredited”.

BREEAM provides to its clients, developers, designers and others with market recognition, assurance of best environmental practice incorporated into a building, a benchmark that is higher than regulation, a tool to help reduce running costs, improve working and living environments and a standard that demonstrates progress towards corporate and organisational environmental objectives.It addresses wide-ranging environmental and sustainability issues and uses a scoring system which is transparent, easy to understand. It also maintains a robust technical standard with rigorous quality assurance and certification.

According to Paul Gibbon, Director of Sustainability, BRE Global “The advantage of scheme development using the framework of BREEAM Bespoke is that it reduces the cost of assessments and provides a ready made set of criteria against which developers, designers and clients can assess their buildings”.

Early BREEAM assessment standards for datacentres were carried out as part of Digital Realty Trust developing a facility for a major financial institute which was completed late in 2008 which achieved an Excellent rating. The datacentre uses a unique heat recovery system which results in energy savings of up to 83 percent compared to conventional gas fired boilers. It also uses a building automation system which responds to changing atmospheric conditions making the most of when the ambient temperature is low.