Sustainability Assessment of Building Projects Literature review

Sustainability Assessment of Building Projects - Literature review Example European Union has recently developed a number of harmonized tools and standards for sustainable development in building projects namely the EN15643-3:2012, EN15643-3:2010 and prEN16309. However, a number of international methods are still being used by the individual states within the EU but in alignment with the current European Union directives. For example, one of the standards that are widely used in many EU member states at the moment is the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). The model has not only provided a comprehensive tool of assessing various sustainability issues but is also being used as a measure of the general performance of the building and construction projects in the country. Another important sustainability assessment model used in the European Union is the Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) model. As one of the one of the most internationally recognized building and construction certification systems, the standard is increasingly being used in Ireland and many other European Union member states to provide third party verification for building projects with regard to different sustainability aspects such as energy savings, carbon emissions, water efficiency indoor environment quality as well as resource usage. Finally, the other models such as the German model known as the DGNB, has also been recently adopted by a number of European Union member States. Existing International and European Assessment Models