Essential green building certifications for UK office spaces

Green building certifications have become non-negotiable for office space investors and tenants. These standards ensure commercial buildings meet the required energy efficiency and overall environmental performance criteria. Therefore, here are the four crucial green building certification UK for business people seeking premium office spaces.

Green building certifications are independently verified standards that assess and rate the sustainability and environmental friendliness of a construction project. According to the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), these certifications benchmark a building’s environmental performance across a range of criteria, including energy use, materials, water efficiency, and occupant health.

The certifications serve critical purposes, including:

• Reducing environmental impact: They ensure that the building’s construction and operations have minimal environmental impact through reduced carbon emissions and efficient resource use.
• Promoting market appeal and asset value: They make the building desirable to tenants and investors, leading to higher occupancy rates and rental yields.
• Saving on operation and maintenance costs: Certified projects often consume less energy and water, lowering utility costs and operational savings.

You might want to know more about 9 smart ways to build sustainable office design

Below are various types of green building certifications that monitor the UK’s commercial real estate market.

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method)

BREEAM is the UK’s longest-established and most widely used green building certification. Introduced in 1990 by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), it provides a comprehensive framework for assessing the environmental performance of buildings and infrastructure at every stage of their lifecycle.

Applicability: BREEAM covers all building types, including:

• New Construction
• Refurbishment and Fit-Out (RFO)
• In-use (existing buildings)
• Large-scale developments such as business parks and urban communities

Assessment Categories:
BREEAM evaluates performance across key categories:

• Energy
• Health and Wellbeing
• Transport
• Water
• Materials
• Waste
• Land use and ecology
• Pollution
• Management
• Innovation

BREEAM Rating Levels:
Each building receives a score that translates into a rating:

• Outstanding: ≥ 85%
• Excellent: ≥ 70%
• Very Good: ≥ 55%
• Good: ≥ 45%
• Pass: ≥ 30%

These ratings offer a clear indication of a building’s sustainability and help stakeholders make informed decisions.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1998 and is now recognised worldwide, including in the UK, as a leading green building certification. Although it originated in the United States, LEED has become a global benchmark for assessing the environmental and sustainability performance of commercial buildings.

Its relevance in the UK has grown in parallel with increased focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, making it a valuable certification for office spaces aiming to meet international sustainability standards.

Applicability: LEED is suitable for a wide range of commercial real estate projects, including:

• New office developments
• Interior fit-outs
• Renovations and retrofits

Key LEED rating systems include:

• LEED for Building Design and Construction (BD+C)
• LEED for Interior Design and Construction (ID+C)
• LEED for Operations and Maintenance (O+M)
• LEED for Core and Shell

Assessment Categories:
The green building certification LEED uses a points-based system that evaluates performance in areas such as:

• Location and Transportation
• Sustainable sites
• Water efficiency
• Energy and atmosphere
• Materials and resources
• Indoor environmental quality
• Innovation
• Regional priority

LEED Certification Levels:
The final certification is based on the number of points achieved:

• Platinum: 80+ points
• Gold: 60–79 points
• Silver: 50–59 points
• Certified: 40–49 points

LEED provides international recognition and demonstrates a building’s commitment to sustainability, which is especially valuable to multinational companies and global investors.

NABERS UK

NABERS UK is an energy performance rating system specifically designed for commercial office buildings. It later launched in the UK in 2020 through a partnership between Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) and the UK Design for Performance (DfP). The system is based on Australia’s well-established NABERS framework, which has been in use since 1998.

Unlike many certifications that focus on design and projected performance, NABERS UK measures actual, in-use energy performance, making it particularly valuable for landlords, tenants, and building operators seeking transparency and accountability in their energy use.

Applicability:

• Existing office buildings
• New developments
• Major refurbishments

NABERS UK consists of two key pathways:

• NABERS Energy for Offices: Provides annual performance ratings based on real operational data
• Design for Performance: A pre-certification pathway for new buildings committed to achieving high performance after completion

Assessment Metrics:

• Actual energy consumption (measured in kWh/m²)
• Metering and monitoring strategies
• Building occupancy
• Operational hours

NABERS UK Rating Levels:
The certification uses a 6-star rating system:

• 6 Stars: Market-leading performance
• 5 Stars: Excellent performance
• 4 Stars: Good performance
• 3 Stars: Average performance
• 2 Stars or below: Below-average performance

NABERS UK is rapidly gaining traction in the UK office sector as a trusted, performance-based certification that complements design-focused frameworks like BREEAM and LEED.

WELL Building Standard

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) launched the WELL Building Standard as the first certification that solely focuses on the building’s influence on human health and wellbeing. The standard uses scientific research and medical evidence to evaluate how buildings and interior spaces support occupant’s health.

It is a perfect green building professional certification for:

• New office developments
• Commercial fit-outs
• Educational and healthcare facilities
• Multi-tenant commercial buildings

Applicability: WELL offers several certification pathways to meet a variety of project types and goals:

• WELL Core Certification: For base building design and operations
• WELL Certification: For full projects including tenant spaces
• WELL Portfolio: For organisations seeking to certify multiple spaces
• WELL Community: For broader urban-scale developments

Assessment Categories:
WELL  evaluates building performance across 10 core concepts:

• Air
• Water
• Nourishment
• Light
• Movement (formerly “Fitness”)
• Thermal Comfort
• Sound
• Materials
• Mind
• Community

These categories reflect both environmental quality and human-centered design—making WELL especially attractive to health-conscious tenants and employers focused on employee wellbeing.

WELL Certification Levels:
WELL uses a points-based system that requires projects to meet mandatory preconditions and achieve additional optimisation points:

• Platinum: Bronze + 80 points
• Gold: Bronze + 60 points
• Silver: Bronze + 50 points
• Bronze: Awarded upon achieving all preconditions

Certification is awarded following both documentation review and onsite performance verification, ensuring that spaces not only aim for but actively deliver healthier environments.