When planning to achieve a green building certification such as BREEAM, material specification plays a central role in the assessment criteria.
Granted, tile specification is a small line item on most BREEAM submissions. However, it frequently is an area that trips up an otherwise strong materials score. This is because tiles aren't assessed in isolation.
A BREEAM assessor scoring a floor or wall finish is looking at the tile as one component of a system, checking two distinct credits against two distinct sets of evidence. Assessors often expect documentation that most manufacturer datasheets don't provide by default.
Through our sustainable tile collections, Parkside can support your BREEAM certification and similar green building certification schemes such as LEED (UK) and WELL.
In this post, we’ll focus on some of the key aspects that assessors will look for so that you can plan ahead for success.
Mat 01: Life Cycle Impacts
This is the primary credit affecting tile specification. Assessors are scoring the environmental impact of the finish across its life cycle, and they'll do this one of two ways.
The first is a Green Guide to Specification rating, ranging from A+ to E, assigned to the generic build-up the tile forms part of.
The second, increasingly preferred route, is a third-party Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) conforming to EN 15804 and covering life cycle stages A, B and C.
An EPD meeting this scope counts as a tier 1 EPD for scoring purposes and generally produces a better result than the generic Green Guide rating, since it reflects the specific product rather than a generic category average.
The detail that catches specifiers out is that Mat 01 doesn't assess the tile on its own. It assesses the system: the floor finish plus the adhesive, or the wall cladding plus its fixings and seals.
A porcelain tile with an excellent EPD can still drag down a system score if it's paired with an adhesive that has no EPD or a poor Green Guide rating. Adhesive and grout specification needs to be considered alongside the tile from the outset, not bolted on afterwards.
For guidance on matching adhesive classification to tile type and project conditions, see our flexible tile adhesive guide and our commercial tile specification guide.
Where a project has multiple tile specifications across different areas, BREEAM's own calculator allows specifications sharing the same Green Guide rating or EPD status to be grouped together, with their combined area entered as a single line. This is worth knowing when briefing a design team on how to present a multi-product scheme cleanly rather than submitting dozens of near-identical rows.
Mat 03: Responsible Sourcing of Materials
This is a separate credit with its own evidence requirements.
Here, assessors want confirmation that the tile, and typically the adhesive and grout too, was produced under a recognised responsible sourcing certification scheme. For ceramics this most commonly means BES 6001 or an equivalent chain of custody standard covering raw material extraction through to manufacture.
Full certification doesn't need to be in place at the design stage. A letter of commitment from the design team confirming that products will be procured from suppliers capable of supplying BES 6001 certified options is generally accepted as design stage evidence.
What assessors will not accept is a specification with no responsible sourcing position at all, since this credit is assessed as a pass or fail against a minimum threshold of certified material types rather than scored on a sliding scale.
The Adjacent Credit: Indoor Air Quality
Tile installation touches one further category worth flagging, particularly on interior fit outs.
Hea 02 assesses VOC emissions from adhesives, sealants and other wet-applied products used during installation.
Low-VOC or EMICODE-rated adhesives and grouts support this credit, and it's a straightforward win to specify alongside Mat 01 documentation rather than as an afterthought once the tiling contractor is already on site.
What to Have Ready
For a specifier working towards a BREEAM submission, the practical checklist is short but specific:
- Green Guide rating or EPD for the tile itself, scoped to EN 15804 stages A to C where possible
- EPD or Green Guide data for the adhesive and grout, not just the tile, since Mat 01 scores the system
- BES 6001 certification or a supplier capability letter for Mat 03
- Low-VOC adhesive and sealant data sheets to support Hea 02 where relevant
All of this information should be requested early and attached to the specification rather than chased retrospectively once the assessor has already flagged a gap.
Planning A Green Building Project? Discover Our Sustainable Tile Range
If you are wanting to achieve BREEAM or a similar green building certification, our tile specification team can help.
Parkside's sustainable tiles collection includes ranges with EPD documentation.
Discover our tile collections on our website, with recycled content information also available on individual product pages.
Alternatively, please contact us to receive professional guidance from our tile specifiers. We regularly assist professionals such as architects, designers and developers and can help you explore the tile options which will meet all of your wider objectives.
Tile collection featured in blog cover image: Oslo which contains 52% recycled content.
