BREEAM Excellent service centre for Elia Asset

The need to manage complexity and risks

Elia Asset builds and manages the infrastructure that keeps the Belgian high-voltage grid running. For new sites, Elia applies an internal policy: all buildings must achieve at least a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating. This is not merely a cosmetic ambition, but a necessary measure to meet the expectations of regulators, financiers and the wider market. For the new Kruisem Service Centre (a combination of offices, warehouses, workshops and outdoor infrastructure), this ambition was explicitly agreed upon.

However, BREEAM involves dozens of credits, technical trade-offs, legal requirements and strict evidence-based procedures. As a result, the project risked incurring costly delays, making incorrect or overly expensive design choices, or missing out on essential credits that could jeopardise the desired score.

Elia therefore issued a targeted call for tenders for an external BREEAM assessor to steer, structure and manage the project from day one. The assessor was also required to streamline collaboration between Elia, internal stakeholders and the contractor Strabag. The question was clear: how do we ensure that Kruisem achieves its sustainability objectives in the most efficient way, without over-investment or delays?

Comprehensive support towards BREEAM Excellent

As the selected BREEAM assessor, we brought together technical feasibility, financial impact and certification logic into a single, streamlined process. We began with an in-depth intake to firmly establish the internal BREEAM policy, functional requirements and project scope. Through a pre-assessment and GAP analysis, we precisely determined which credits were achievable, which measures were necessary and where optimisations were possible.

This led to an optimisation study and roadmap, including:

• a cost-benefit analysis for each measure,
• technical implications for design and implementation,
• priorities, phasing and risks,
• and potential alternatives that add value and limit costs.

This roadmap was translated into a Work Scope with clear responsibilities, deadlines and formats for evidence. This ensured that both Elia and Strabag knew exactly what decisions were needed to keep the BREEAM process on track.

During the design and construction phases, we acted as a sparring partner and quality assurance body: we reviewed tender documents, made adjustments where necessary and ensured that the overall strategy remained consistent with the project’s sustainability ambitions. Finally, we compiled the full certification dossier and oversaw its submission to BRE.

The original target was BREEAM Very Good. However, thanks to an integrated approach and targeted optimisations, the project achieved a BREEAM Excellent Design certificate. The post-construction dossier has since also been submitted, with Excellent as the intended final result.

Certainty, efficiency and a scalable approach for future Elia projects

The result is a future-proof service centre that complies with Elia’s internal sustainability policy, is perfectly prepared to meet stakeholder expectations and is ready for sustainable operation without unnecessary complexity or costs. This brings several clear and measurable benefits:

Certainty regarding the achievement of sustainability targets

From the outset, Elia had a realistic, fully substantiated path to certification, without any conflicts of interpretation or surprises.

More efficient collaboration and fewer reworks

Thanks to structure, templates and a single point of contact, the project team was able to make decisions more quickly and reworks were kept to a minimum.

Cost optimisation through smart choices of measures

Our cost-benefit analysis ensured that Elia only invested in measures that effectively added value — both for the BREEAM score and for the building’s lifespan.

Complete relief for internal teams

Elia was able to focus on its core mission whilst we managed the full coordination, monitoring and documentation within the BREEAM framework.

A replicable framework for future infrastructure projects

The Kruisem-Deinze approach now forms a scalable model that Elia can apply to future service centres and technical sites.