In fact, the refurbishments at Charles Darwin House have been so successful from an environmental perspective that the office space has been given an ‘excellent’ rating by a BREEAM assessment team.
BREEAM is the most widely-used environmental assessment method in the UK, and the rating puts the home of the British Ecological Society, the Society for Experimental Biology and the Biochemical Society among the ‘greenest’ buildings in the country.
“We are delighted that BREEAM Excellent has been achieved,” said Dr Hazel Norman, executive director of the British Ecological Society.
“It was not an easy objective as it involved transforming a 1950s office, which needed a significant amount of refurbishment.”
Bike racks were installed as part of the building’s environmental overhaul, and staff at the site are said to be “extremely positive” about the changes to their London office space.
The office space refit was carried out by the Morgan Lovell company, which has its own team of BREEAM assessors and is a member of the UK Green Building Council.
Editor’s notes: BREEAM stands for ‘Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method’ and was launched in 1990.
The sustainability rating system assesses the environmental impact of new commercial buildings and takes into account construction methods, energy production, waste management provisions and amenities that encourage sustainable transport to and from the property, such as bicycle storage with shower facilities, as well as many other factors.
In 2023, 535,000 buildings had been BREEAM certified, and a further 2,217,000 had been registered for certification.
As the world works towards a net-zero carbon status by 2050, more and more businesses are seeking office space with enhanced environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credentials.
Research in June 2026 found that BREEAM ‘Version 7’ was released in 2025 and that, in May 2026, approximately 600,000 buildings worldwide were BREEAM-certified, with another 2.3 million registered.
Other environmental assessment protocols used for commercial properties include Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), which is managed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) which is managed by the Government of New South Wales’ Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (New South Wales) on behalf of the Australian Government. NABERS UK measures and rates the actual energy use of office buildings.
The WELL Building Standard is managed by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and seeks to support occupant health and well-being.
In July 2024, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) launched the 2nd edition of its Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) standard to provide guidance on measuring whole-life carbon emissions, managing carbon budgets, reducing life-cycle emissions, and delivering a net-zero future for the built environment.