SusCon Achieves Highest BREEAM Rating

SusCon, a sustainable construction training and research centre in Dartford has been awarded a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating with a score of 88.85% following a recent BREEAM Education 2008 design stage assessment. This is the highest BREEAM score ever achieved for an education building.

SusCon, which was designed by Stephen George & Partners for a public/private partnership led by Dartford Borough Council, Prologis and North West Kent College, has been built at The Bridge in Dartford. The building has been designed as a learning tool and the centre’s cross-disciplinary curriculum reflects this innovative approach.

While the SusCon building provides an exemplar education building that has been delivered as the result of a public/private partnership, the pioneering curriculum is also the result of a successful collaboration between North West Kent College and the construction industry. As a result, SusCon offers accredited courses for both building trades and professions – as well as for members of the local community. In this way it can help equip everyone involved in the built environment with the skills required for a low-carbon future.

James Nicholls, Partner at Stephen George & Partners said: “The BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ design stage assessment is a great achievement for the whole SusCon team and it is particularly appropriate that a centre dedicated to a new approach to sustainable construction learning should gain the highest score ever awarded under BREEAM Education 2008.”