This document provides principles and requirements for the assessment of environmental, social and economic performance of buildings and civil engineering works taking into account their technical characteristics and functionality.
NOTE 1 Assessments of environmental, social and economic performance are the three aspects of sustainability assessment of buildings and civil engineering works, or combination thereof, (hereafter referred to as “construction works”).
The framework applies to all types of construction works and it is relevant for new construction works over their entire life cycle, and of existing construction works over their remaining service life and end of life stage.
The sustainability assessment of construction works covers aspects and impacts of construction works expressed with quantifiable indicators. It includes the assessment of the construction works’ influence on the environmental, social and economic aspects and impacts on the local area (area of influence) and of the local infrastructure beyond the curtilage of the building and the civil engineering works.
NOTE 2 The sustainability assessment in the standards developed under this framework encompasses potential impacts e.g. intrinsic hazards from chemicals that are not based on a full environmental risk assessment.
The assessment of environmental, social and economic aspects of organizations, such as management systems, are not included in the standards developed under this framework. However, the decisions or actions that influence the environmental, social and economic performance of the object of assessment can be taken into account where the assessment includes management process related aspects.