Comparison of two sustainability assessment tools on a passive office in Flanders

Abstract

Last decade, different sustainability assessment tools have been developed to determine the sustainability level of buildings through a range of evaluation criteria. However, it often is unclear where these tools differ and how usable these tools are in practice. Therefore,two tools used in Flanders, BREEAM Offices and ‘Assessment of office buildings’(AOB), developed by the Flemish government, have been applied to a passive office building. The evaluation process as well as the final score of both tools have been compared. The evaluation process appeared to be labour-intensive, thus creating a high threshold for these tools to be applied more commonly in practice, especially during the design phase. Furthermore, the comparison revealed that, in contrast of AOB, BREEAM informs not only on the quality of the building, but also on the management and use of it, resulting in more perspective for future improvement of the sustainability of both building and company.