BREEAM: Design for Sustainability & Performance

What does it mean for a data center to be BREEAM rated?

BREEAM ratings measure how well a building performs against sustainability benchmarks. It assesses buildings across ten categories, including energy emissions, water, health and well-being, pollution, land use and ecology, transport, materials, waste, management, and innovation. It emphasizes project management and climate change adaptation. BREEAM also goes beyond sustainability into community — how will this building impact the neighbors that are already there? And what can we do during design and construction to be good neighbors? Additionally, BREEAM has a strong focus on the longevity of the building, with credits for structural durability against wear and tear as well as resilience against floods, UV exposure, and other extreme weather conditions.

For critical infrastructure like data centers, it is about finding the balance of prioritizing energy efficiency, utilizing renewable energy, conserving water and reducing waste while still providing reliable and secure data processing and storage services. We found that many of the BREEAM requirements are fairly attainable as they are in line with Corgan’s goals for high performance design.

How does BREEAM compare to LEED?

The BREEAM standards are similar to LEED, but are more common in Europe than in the United States. The framework is meant to be holistic and is more adaptable to diverse project needs with more design choices depending on the project's specific goals. It specializes in carbon dioxide emission reduction and the impact of building material selection on sustainability goals. BREEAM also incorporates design and specification measures to limit material degradation due to environmental factors. On the other hand, LEED focuses more on realizing cost savings throughout the building lifecycle, energy efficiency and design innovation. 

Is the rating related to just the design and construction of the building, or does it include building operations?

We know that data centers take a lot of energy to operate, so designing them to optimize performance in the operation is really important, both for our clients and for the environment. Part of the BREEAM process includes the development of a building user guide and training schedule to track operations. Operational infrastructure is implemented to monitor the collection of water consumption and energy consumption data after the building is occupied. As part of the certification, the owner commits to disclosure and reporting of energy consumption via internal environmental reports as well as publicly available data. The data is also analyzed to ensure that the building is performing as designed. The owner and project team sets targets for optimizing consumption and use the disclosure reports to monitor progress towards these targets.

As you mentioned, data centers are known to be an energy intensive building type – what went into achieving a BREEAM Excellent rating at the Iron Mountain Data Centers Arizona facility?  What challenges did the design team face in reaching the BREEAM Excellent rating?

For this project, we worked with Iron Mountain Data Centers and its sustainability consulting firm, Longevity Partners, to help us determine the sustainability goals for the project. Corgan’s design team met with them regularly to determine what we would be able to achieve given the site, budget, and other project needs. To obtain a BREEAM rating, managing details, coordination, and tracking of the credits is half of the battle. The team reviewed product specifications, site information, and underwent cost vs. benefit analysis to make sure that we were staying within budget while also designing something that is sustainable and beautiful.

Based on an ecological study of the area, there were protected birds within the region. To increase the ecological value and help maintain the delicate balance of ecosystems, the project incorporated bird-friendly glazing on the windows. We went through many iterations to verify that the glass would work for the building and for Iron Mountain’s branding standards. While the glazing was challenging to source within the allotted project construction schedule and had a higher initial cost, its benefits were twofold: there is the long-term impact in improving biodiversity as well as the energy-saving benefits in reduced heat transfer and UV radiation, which lowers operational costs over time.

Iron Mountain Data Centers has said that “all new construction of multi-tenant data centers will be BREEAM certified by 2025.” With data centers all across the U.S., how does a data center’s climate and site impact the feasibility of a BREEAM rating?

Iron Mountain Data Centers is committed to their sustainability goals. Currently, we are working on VA-3, VA-6, VA-7, AZP-3, and RCH-1, which are all targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating.

Climate regions do come into play – each climate region has a different set of problems to solve. BREEAM allows for regional adaptations within its framework, meaning that the weight assigned to each sustainability aspect can be adjusted based on the local climate, including temperature ranges, precipitation patterns, and solar radiation. This ensures an optimized approach for each region. For example, a building in a hot, arid climate will prioritize shading and ventilation strategies while a building in a cold climate will focus on insulation and heat recovery systems. With this type of adaptable framework, it just means that we really need to solve for each site.

What are the benefits for an owner to build a sustainable data center? What about tenants?

High-performance equipment is the number one goal for third-party owners. It’s not just more sustainable, it also decreases down time and reduces operating costs. Hyperscalers are the biggest buyers of renewable energy in the world. These companies also support their clients -- the tenants -- worldwide in meeting their zero-carbon goals through 100% renewable power matching. Customers choose them because they power their facilities with 100% renewable energy and pass on the benefits of that “green” power to their clients. By decoupling their energy costs from the cost of fossil fuels, they are able to create long term lower costs of energy.