Sustainability — RICS APC Competency Revision Guide

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rates buildings across categories including energy, water, materials, transport, health and wellbeing, and ecology. The rating levels are: Unclassified, Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent, and Outstanding. Points are awarded across the categories and a weighted total determines the overall rating. For the APC, you should understand how a BREEAM assessment is structured, what each category covers, and what rating thresholds are typically required by planning authorities or institutional investors.

Operational carbon is the carbon emitted during the use of a building — from heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances. Embodied carbon is the carbon associated with manufacturing, transporting, installing, maintaining, and disposing of building materials. Historically, assessments focused on operational carbon, but as buildings become more energy-efficient, embodied carbon represents a growing share of whole-life emissions. The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard requires both to be addressed for a credible net zero claim.

Under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations, commercial properties in England must have an EPC rating of at least E before a new tenancy is granted. The trajectory of future policy is towards higher minimum standards, and assessors may ask you about the risk this creates for investors holding poorly performing assets. At Level 3, you should be able to quantify this stranding risk and advise a client on a retrofit strategy that addresses both regulatory compliance and long-term asset value.

Identify any instruction or project where sustainability had a bearing on the advice you gave or the decision that was made: an EPC review, a BREEAM assessment contribution, a whole-life cost comparison that included carbon considerations, or advice on green lease clauses. If your role does not routinely generate this evidence, look for opportunities in CPD, committee work, or by requesting involvement in a project with a sustainability dimension. Evidence of asking questions and influencing decisions counts, not just of leading the work.

You interrogate the claim against the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, which sets out the evidence required to substantiate a net zero claim. You ask for the asset's predicted operational energy intensity (kWh/m2/year), its confirmed renewable energy source, whether on-site renewables or power purchase agreements are in place, and what offsetting (if any) is being relied upon. A scheme that relies heavily on offsets rather than genuine emissions reduction is a weaker claim. You also check whether embodied carbon has been assessed and mitigated. You report your findings to the fund with a clear view on whether the net zero claim is credible, noting any assumptions that require further verification before exchange.