Green Gown Awards 2017 - Oxford Brookes University - Finalist

Designed at Oxford Brookes University, the Green Guide to Specification is an easy-to-use, A-E rating system which enables architects, designers, property managers and constructors to select building materials and components for their projects which have the lowest environmental impact based on quantitative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data.

Part of the BREEAM and Code for Sustainable Homes programmes, Green Guide has been used to reduce environmental impacts for over 538,200 recorded construction projects with a further 2,236 million projects registered awaiting certification worldwide (BRE, 2016). It has also been used by the GLA and in UK local government more widely, and was adopted as the official design standard for all construction materials used in the London 2012 Olympics.

A 5th edition of the Green Guide reference book and on-line resource is currently in preparation.

Top 3 learnings:

1 Value and use diverse perspectives and skills-sets from academia, the professions, and applied science.

2 Involvement of industry is pivotal in such projects to ensure credibility and uptake.

3 Be ambitious – but just getting organisations ‘moving in the right direction’ is a significant achievement.

Videos

• The Green Guide to Specification – An environmental profiling system for construction materials (click to hide)