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BEAM P
LUS FOR
N
EW
B
UILDINGS
F
RAMEWORK
V
ERSION
1.2
Copyright © 2012 BEAM Society Limited. All rights reserved.
Page 4
be included, either because the environmental impacts are not well
defined, or because performance criteria have not been established.
They may be included in future updates, when enough information
becomes available to permit reasonably objective assessment.
S
OCIAL AND
E
CONOMIC
A
SPECTS
BEAM recognises the need to include social and economic dimensions
when assessing building performance. Where there is consensus
amongst stakeholders that an issue is important, and where a
reasonably objective assessment can be made, the issue is included.
R
AISING
S
TANDARDS
Responding to environmental priorities and to social and economic
issues, BEAM strives to improve the overall performance of buildings.
BEAM encourages progressively higher standards of performance, and
innovations that contribute to such performance. For a voluntary scheme,
the extent to which performance can be enhanced is determined by
market acceptance of the assessment criteria, the cost of undertaking
assessments, the relative weighting of the credits counting towards the
overall grade awarded, and the perceived benefits to the Client. The
criteria included in BEAM are considered to be realistic and attainable in
practice.
'Green
Building'
Target
'Sustainable
Building'
Target
Timeframe >
Baseline/Benchmark
Incremental steps -
difficulty, cost, etc