This European Standard forms one part of a series of European Standards and provides the specific principles and requirements for the assessment of social performance of buildings taking into account technical characteristics and functionality of a building. Assessment of social performance is one aspect of sustainability assessment of buildings under the general framework of EN 15643-1. The framework applies to all types of buildings, both new and existing, and it is relevant for the assessment of the social performance of new buildings over all stages of their life cycle, and of existing buildings to their end of life. NOTE 1 Although all stages of the life cycle are considered in this European Standard, the choice of what is practical to cover in the implementation of this framework is the subject of the standard on “Assessment of Social Performance of Buildings –Methods”, which is under development. The first version of the Methods standard may limit the application of the framework to fewer than all life-cycle stages, depending on what methods are appropriate for European standardisation at this time. Future revisions of the Methods standard will include the assessment of social performance for other stages of the building life cycle as appropriate methods for measurement are developed and become suitable for European standardisation. The social dimension of sustainability concentrates on the assessment of aspects and impacts of a building expressed with quantifiable indicators. The social performance measures will be represented through indicators for the following social performance categories: - accessibility; - adaptability; - health and comfort; - loadings on the neighbourhood; - maintenance; - safety / security; - sourcing of materials and services; - stakeholder involvement.