Sustainability Certification Consulting

Green Transition
June 2021

As change is happening at an accelerating rate, we engage our clients in a conversation with an aim to align their business goals with eco conscious actions and human health and wellness awareness. Introducing new thinking and proposing resilient strategies, tools and metrics, adjusted to every organization’s ecosystem.
A short description of FOCAL’s consulting services and applied standards, follows:

The Environment
Sustainable practices are proposed to mitigate the effects of climate change, focusing on the environmental impact of building environment both in case of new structures and existing buildings.
- European Union aims at drastic reductions in domestic greenhouse gas emissions by developing austere energy restriction policies and prioritizing renovation strategies. We monitor upcoming Directives and mandatory local regulatory and legislative applied framework and propose cost optimum actions for achieving energy efficiency with nearly Zero Energy (nZEB) standards in new buildings and building stock refurbishment.
- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is a widely used voluntary green building standard. Based on different rating systems, is available for all building phases including new construction, interior fit outs, operations and maintenance and core and shell. It provides energy metric greenhouse gas emissions and uses international standards for energy performance. Design criteria on indoor environmental quality of light, air and sound are also described. Additionally, it promotes sustainability through measures on water conservation, site selection, transportation green options, waste management and the “recyclability” potential of the building by material selection. The LEED application, review and certification process is handled online.

Human Health and Wellness
Wellbeing has become a global megatrend as people become increasingly conscious of their physical health and mental wellbeing. Pandemic has accelerated the importance of these issues along with the urgent need to measure and standardize them.
The enterprising value of the following building standards is their human-centric philosophy, enhancing client-centric strategies and clearly communicating the certified organization’s commitment to foster a culture of health and wellness.
- The WELL Building Standard is a building certification that identifies and implements strategies toward health and wellness promotion for all space types. It is certified by the Green Business Certification Incorporation (GBCI), which also administers the LEED certification program. The innovative approach of this building standard is that it highlights with medical evidence the direct impact of built environment’s outcome conditions to human physical and mental health. Therefore, it holistically measures and certifies good practices of air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind with guidelines that span form early design phase to construction and organization’s operational pattern.
The WELL application, documentation review process is also handled online. However, the certification is achieved with onsite samples of air and water and confirming the performance of thermal, lighting and acoustic elements, verified by third party.
WELL Core and WELL Portfolio are also available. Core is for base buildings seeking to implement fundamental WELL features in their infrastructure to benefit future tenants. Portfolio is for organizations that seek to reflect their achievement of WELL’s evidence-based strategies across their defined portfolios.
- The WELL Health-Safety Rating consists of a subset of relevant features from the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and resulted from the pandemic crisis. It applies for new and existing building and focuses on operational policies of cleaning and sanitization procedures, maintenance protocols of air and water quality, occupant engagement and emergency preparedness plans. Designed to empower owners and operators across large and small businesses, to take the necessary steps to prioritize the health and safety of their staff, visitors and stakeholders and confidently prepare their spaces for re-entry in a post-COVID-19 environment.

Our Team
- Energy Efficiency Certified Consultants and Auditors
- WELL Accredited Professionals (AP) credential denotes expertise in the WELL Building Standard and a commitment to advancing human health and wellness in building and communities around the world.
- LEED Accredited Professionals (AP) with specialty credential showcases your in-depth understanding of green building design, construction and operation, while also demonstrating your knowledge of a particular LEED rating system and the certification process.
- BREAM (also known as the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) Accredited Professionals (AP) is a sustainability assessment method for master planning projects, infrastructure and buildings. It is a method utilised across new construction, in-use and refurbishments to judge the environmental, social and economic sustainability performance of a dwelling, with reference to the standards specified by BRE.

About FOCAL
Our business at FOCAL is to provide professional management and cost control services on design and construction programmes and projects. We function as the owner’s agent from inception to completion, and manage design consultants, construction contractors and operators on the owner’s behalf, making sure that the owner’s best interests are safeguarded.

Links
WELL: https://v2.wellcertified.com/wellv2/en/overview
LEED: https://www.usgbc.org/about/brand
BREAM: https://www.breeam.com/