CEN/TC 350 - Sustainability of construction works

This document supports the data quality assessment and selection of data for product-level Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) according to the core product category rules of EN 15804 and for the environmental performance assessment of buildings according to prEN 15978 1 in a consistent way. It can also be used to assess and select data for the environmental assessment of civil engineering works according to EN 17472.
It defines data quality requirements with respect to temporal, technological and geographical representativeness for the data used to calculate the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based indicator results of the EPD and for construction works when applying EPD, life cycle inventory data or other LCA based information, and generates a hierarchy to support the selection of the most appropriate data with regard to data quality. It also addresses the reporting of data quality at product and building level.

This document provides a methodology for the evaluation of the potential for sustainable refurbishment of an existing building, as a means of contributing to the circular economy, to support the decision-making process. Sustainable refurbishment aims to close the gap between current performance and current requirements fulfilling authorities’ sustainability regulations and contribute to meet sustainability goals which maximizes the environmental, social and economic performance. It also aims to allow the adaptability to fulfil future needs. It can be used for a building or part(s) of a building, as well as a portfolio of buildings.
This document gives a methodology for assessing performance characteristics of existing buildings in terms of:
1)   Technical aspects
2)   Adaptability
3)   Usability
4)   Social aspects
5)   Energy, water and operational impacts
6)   Quality of indoor environment (including health aspects)
7)   Economic feasibility
8)   Climate change resilience
9)   Embodied environmental impacts
The document describes the work to be done in main applicable categories of a 6 steps process:
•   Step 0: Establish brief of the object of the assessment
•   Step 1: Evaluating the building
•   Step 2: Sustainable deconstruction
•   Step 3: Sustainable construction process
•   Step 4: Sustainable commissioning
•   Step 5: Sustainable in use
NOTE   In this document the users are people and organisations using the building, including the facility management. In some buildings visitors are also important users and need to be taken into account.
This approach is generic for all types of buildings. At present this document does not cover civil engineering work and it does not give benchmarks for the evaluation.
Assessment of the impacts of sustainable refurbishment of buildings is covered by calculation methods described in EN 15978, EN 16309 and EN 16627.

This document provides horizontal rules for business-to-consumer communication including benchmarking systems that aim to inform consumers about the life cycle environmental performance of construction products, assembled systems and construction elements. The communication is based on the results of the life cycle of the product, system or element, as incorporated to the construction asset, see EN 15804:2012+A2:2019. B2C communication includes information on benefits and loads beyond the system boundary.
This document is aimed at organizations providing business-to-consumer communication and benchmarking systems and provides guidance on how to develop business-to-consumer communication and common rules for benchmarking methodologies using EPD, see EN 15804, and see EN 15942 for the communication format.
Business-to-consumer communication and benchmarking methodology described in this document is based on a functional unit and cradle-to-grave assessments. B2C communication with no benchmarking is also described in this document.

This document provides the principles and requirements to enable environmental and technical data provided in EPDs for construction products and services, construction elements and integrated technical systems to be used in BIM to assist in the assessment of the environmental performance of a construction works over its life cycle.
This document gives requirements on structuring EPD information using a data template according to ISO 23386 and ISO 23387, to make EPD data machine-interpretable and to enable their integration into information-driven design, construction, use and end-of-life stages.
This document is applicable to structuring generic LCA data for use within a BIM environment, as these data are required in the absence of suitable EPD data to enable assessment of the environmental performance at the construction works level.
The assessment of environmental performance at the construction works level is not covered by this document.

This European standard provides core product category rules (PCR) for Type III environmental declarations for any construction product and construction service.
NOTE   The assessment of social and economic performances at product level is not covered by this standard.
The core PCR:
-   defines the parameters to be declared and the way in which they are collated and reported,
-   describes which stages of a product’s life cycle are considered in the EPD and which processes are to be included in the life cycle stages,
-   defines rules for the development of scenarios,
-   includes the rules for calculating the Life Cycle Inventory and the Life Cycle Impact Assessment underlying the EPD, including the specification of the data quality to be applied,
-   includes the rules for reporting predetermined, environmental and health information, that is not covered by LCA for a product, construction process and construction service where necessary,
-   defines the conditions under which construction products can be compared based on the information provided by EPD.
For the EPD of construction services the same rules and requirements apply as for the EPD of construction products.

This document establishes the requirements and specific methods for the assessment of environmental, economic and social performances of a civil engineering works while taking into account the civil engineering works’ functionality and technical characteristics. By the means of this document the decision making for a project is supported by providing a standardized method for enabling comparability of scheme options.
The assessment of environmental and economic performances of a civil engineering works is based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Cost (LCC), Whole-Life Cost (WLC) and other quantified environmental and economic information. The approach to the assessment covers all stages of the civil engineering works life cycle and includes all civil engineering works related construction products, processes and services, used over its life cycle.
This document is applicable to new and existing civil engineering works and refurbishment projects. The environmental performance is based on data obtained from Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and additional indicators.
This document is not applicable for the assessment of the environmental, social and economic performance of building(s) as part of the civil engineering works; instead, EN 15978, EN 16309 and EN 16627 apply.

This document is applicable to all construction products and services related to buildings and construction works. It specifies and describes the communication format for the information defined in EN 15804 for business-to-business communication to ensure a common understanding through consistent communication of information.
NOTE This document does not deal with business-to-consumer communication and is not intended for that purpose. Business-to-consumer communication format is planned to be the subject of a future document.

This document provides principles and requirements for the assessment of environmental, social and economic performance of buildings and civil engineering works taking into account their technical characteristics and functionality.
NOTE 1   Assessments of environmental, social and economic performance are the three aspects of sustainability assessment of buildings and civil engineering works, or combination thereof, (hereafter referred to as “construction works”).
The framework applies to all types of construction works and it is relevant for new construction works over their entire life cycle, and of existing construction works over their remaining service life and end of life stage.
The sustainability assessment of construction works covers aspects and impacts of construction works expressed with quantifiable indicators. It includes the assessment of the construction works’ influence on the environmental, social and economic aspects and impacts on the local area (area of influence) and of the local infrastructure beyond the curtilage of the building and the civil engineering works.
NOTE 2   The sustainability assessment in the standards developed under this framework encompasses potential impacts e.g. intrinsic hazards from chemicals that are not based on a full environmental risk assessment.
The assessment of environmental, social and economic aspects of organizations, such as management systems, are not included in the standards developed under this framework. However, the decisions or actions that influence the environmental, social and economic performance of the object of assessment can be taken into account where the assessment includes management process related aspects.

2021-07-14 - TC origine - Update of unit for "Eutrophication aquatic freshwater" in Tables 3 and C.1

This Technical Report (TR) has been developed by CEN/TC 350/WG 1 and WG 3 to provide a clear and structured view on the relevance, robustness and applicability of a predefined set of additional impact categories and related indicators for the assessment of the environmental performance of construction works, construction products and building materials.
The TR describes the evaluation criteria that are used to determine, for these impact categories, the suitability of indicators and calculation method(s) for inclusion in the standards EN 15978 and EN 15804 (or other CEN/TC 350 standards as appropriate) in terms of their:
a)   relevance to:
1)   the environment,
2)   construction works,
3)   construction products, and
4)   EU policy;
b)   scientific robustness and certainty; and
c)   applicability of the impact assessment method(s).
The additional impact categories examined in the TR are:
-   human toxicity and ecotoxicity;
-   particulate matter;
-   land use;
-   biodiversity;
-   water scarcity; and
-   ionizing radiation.
Because EN 15978 and EN 15804 are founded on a life cycle approach, the impact categories, indicators and methods reviewed are predominantly based on their potential suitability for application in LCA. In relation to some of the areas of concern, however, where LCA methods might not be sufficiently robust or developed, some non-LCA based indicators and methods are also considered.
Due to the scope of LCA used in the EN 15804 and EN 15978, impacts to users of buildings due to direct exposure to harmful emissions fall outside the scope of this TR. This falls under the scope of CEN/TC 351. Important information related to this aspect found during the development of this TR, is however mentioned in the TR.
Uncertainty is an important issue in LCA. General assessment of the uncertainty related to impact assessment models is considered in the evaluation framework of this TR. However, the TR does not lay down a maximum uncertainty level to be considered acceptable in the context of the CEN standards EN 15804 and EN 15978, nor does it provide exact figures on uncertainties.
Annex A of the TR provides a description of options that may be considered for incorporating selected impact categories/indicator in the standards EN 15978 and EN 15804.
The TR recognizes and takes account of:
-   the work done by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), in the development of the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook Recommendations,
-   other reports and scientific studies into the methods and application of the indicators reviewed,
-   findings of specific activities connected with this work such as of the CEN/TC 350 Workshop, held in Brussels on 24-25 June 2014.

This Technical Report provides general guidance to the users of EN 15804 and those preparing complementary Product Category Rules (c-PCR's) by:
—   stating general principles for the use of EN 15804 by CEN Technical Committees for construction products (Product TC's) in order to ensure consistency among the complementary PCR produced by Product TC's;
—   addressing the questions raised by Product TC's, manufacturers or their sub-contractors who provide LCA studies underlying an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and by EPD programme operators who include c-PCR of specific subcategories in their PCR registry.

This European Standard specifies the calculation methods, based on Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and other quantified economic information, to assess the economic performance of a building, and gives the means for the reporting and communication of the outcome of the assessment. This European Standard is applicable to new and existing buildings and refurbishment projects.
This European Standard gives:
-   the description of the object of assessment;
-   the system boundary that applies at the building level;
-   the scope and procedure to be used for the analysis;
-   the list of indicators and procedures for the calculations of these indicators;
-   the requirements for presentation of the results in reporting and communication;
-   and the requirements for the data necessary for the calculation.
The approach to the assessment covers all stages of the building life cycle and includes all building related construction products, processes and services, used over the life cycle of the building.
The interpretation and value judgments of the results of the assessment are not within the scope of this European Standard.

This European Standard is one part of a suite of European Standards. The standard provides the specific methods and requirements for the assessment of social performance of a building while taking into account the building’s functionality and technical characteristics.
This European Standard applies to all types of buildings, both new and existing. In this first version of the standard, the social dimension of sustainability concentrates on the assessment of aspects and impacts for the use stage of a building expressed using the following social performance categories (from EN 15643 3):
-   accessibility;
-   adaptability;
-   health and comfort;
-   impacts on the neighbourhood;
-   maintenance;
-   safety and security.
NOTE 1   Only impacts and aspects of the above social performance categories are deemed to have an agreed basis for European standardization at this time. Two of the social performance categories included in EN 15643–3 (sourcing of materials and services and stakeholder involvement) are not deemed to be ready for standardization at this time and will be considered for inclusion in future versions of this standard (see informative Annex C).
This standard does not set the rules for how building assessment schemes may provide valuation methods. Nor does it prescribe levels, classes or benchmarks of performance.
Valuation methods, levels, classes or benchmarks may be prescribed in the requirements for environmental, social and economic performance in the client’s brief, building regulations, national standards, national codes of practice, building assessment and certification schemes, etc.
NOTE 2   Where National building regulations give minimum requirements and reference to assessment methods on these aspects, the social performance determined by assessment according to this standard can be used to determine the degree to which the building goes beyond the regulatory/legal requirements.
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) of organizations is not covered by this standard.
The standard gives requirements for:
-   the description of the object of assessment;
-   the system boundary that applies at the building level;
-   the list of indicators and procedures for the application of these indicators;
-   the presentation of the results in reporting and communication;
-   the data necessary for the application of the standard, and
-   verification.

This European Standard specifies the calculation method, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and other quantified environmental information, to assess the environmental performance of a building, and gives the means for the reporting and communication of the outcome of the assessment. The standard is applicable to new and existing buildings and refurbishment projects.
The standard gives:
- the description of the object of assessment;
- the system boundary that applies at the building level;
- the procedure to be used for the inventory analysis;
- the list of indicators and procedures for the calculations of these indicators;
- the requirements for presentation of the results in reporting and communication;
- and the requirements for the data necessary for the calculation.
The approach to the assessment covers all stages of the building life cycle and is based on data obtained from Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), their "information modules" (prEN 15804) and other information necessary and relevant for carrying out the assessment. The assessment includes all building related construction products, processes and services, used over the life cycle of the building.
The interpretation and value judgments of the results of the assessment are not within the scope of this European Standard.

This document specifies the calculation method, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and other quantified environmental information, to assess the environmental performance of a building and its site, and gives the means for the reporting and communication of the outcome of the assessment. The standard is applicable to new and existing buildings and refurbishment projects.
The document gives:
-   the description of the object of assessment,
-   the system boundary that applies at the building level,
-   the procedure to be used for the inventory analysis,
-   the list of indicators and procedures for the calculation of these indicators,
-    demand for information concerning environmental impacts and aspects at the local environment level (including emissions to indoor air),
-   demand for information concerning building generated energy reporting and design for circularity as technical characteristics that support environmental performance,
-   the requirements for the data necessary for the calculation, and
-   the requirements for presentation of the results in reporting and communication.
The approach to the assessment covers all stages of the building life cycle and is based on data obtained from Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), their “information modules” (EN 15804:2012+A2:2019) and other data and information necessary and relevant for carrying out the assessment. The assessment includes all building related construction products, processes and services, used over the life cycle of the building.
Methodologies for and approaches to the interpretation and the making of value judgments of the results of the assessment are not within the scope of this document.
NOTE 1   This document provides system boundaries, calculation rules and indicators to compile and assess the life cycle inventory and life cycle environmental impacts of buildings.
NOTE 2   The document also provides the methodological basis and assessment rules to support the achievement of environment related macro objectives in Europe and instruments such as the European reporting framework Level(s). More information can be found at Level(s) (europa.eu).

This European Standard specifies the calculation method, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and other quantified environmental information, to assess the environmental performance of a building, and gives the means for the reporting and communication of the outcome of the assessment. The standard is applicable to new and existing buildings and refurbishment projects.
The standard gives:
- the description of the object of assessment;
- the system boundary that applies at the building level;
- the procedure to be used for the inventory analysis;
- the list of indicators and procedures for the calculations of these indicators;
- the requirements for presentation of the results in reporting and communication;
- and the requirements for the data necessary for the calculation.
The approach to the assessment covers all stages of the building life cycle and is based on data obtained from Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), their "information modules" (prEN 15804) and other information necessary and relevant for carrying out the assessment. The assessment includes all building related construction products, processes and services, used over the life cycle of the building.
The interpretation and value judgments of the results of the assessment are not within the scope of this European Standard.

Identical to EN 15804+A1 amendment to add additional indicators. Indicators could be : - land use (biodiversity, soil quality), - particulate matter (PM 10), - human tox, - eco tox, - ionizing radiation, - water scarcity, Note oft he secretary: - If it turns out that it is not feasible to have additional indicators a justification has to be developed. - For each indicator this applicability or not should be indicating and justify - Coordination with WG1 - jwg meeting planned however perspective can be different -Pay attention to the use of indicators according to the context. - address third party assessment issue

This European standard provides core product category rules (PCR) for Type III environmental declarations for any construction product and construction service. NOTE The assessment of social and economic performances at product level is not covered by this standard. The core PCR: - defines the parameters to be declared and the way in which they are collated and reported, - describes which stages of a product’s life cycle are considered in the EPD and which processes are to be included in the life cycle stages, - defines rules for the development of scenarios,  -  includes the rules for calculating the Life Cycle Inventory and the Life Cycle Impact Assessment underlying the EPD, including the specification of the data quality to be applied, - includes the rules for reporting predetermined, environmental and health information, that is not covered by LCA for a product, construction process and construction service where necessary, - defines the conditions under which construction products can be compared based on the information provided by EPD. For the EPD of construction services the same rules and requirements apply as for the EPD of construction products.

This standard is applicable to building products, processes and services. The product category rules specify requirements for all building products in accordance with ISO 21930 (proposed to be implemented as EN ISO 21930 in another Work Item) and ISO 14025 for the intended audience whether business or consumers. This standard supports the application of environmental product declarations for the assessment of the environmental performance of buildings and for the assessment of the health & comfort performance of buildings in the framework of the integrated performance of buildings.

This Technical Report supports the development of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD).
It assists in using generic data according to the core product category rules (prEN 15804) during the preparation of EPD of construction products, processes and services in a consistent way, and also in the application of generic data in the environmental performance assessment of buildings according to prEN 15978.
The requirements for the use of generic data are described in prEN 15804.

This European Standard is applicable to all construction products and services related to buildings and construction works. It specifies and describes the communication format for the information defined in FprEN 15804 for business-to-business communication to ensure a common understanding through consistent communication of information.
NOTE   This European Standard does not deal with business to consumer communication and is not intended for that purpose. Business to consumer communication format is planned to be the subject of a future document.

This European Standard provides specific principles and requirements for the assessment of environmental, social and economic performance of civil engineering works taking into account its technical characteristics and functionality. Assessments of environmental, social and economic performance are the three aspects of sustainability assessment of civil engineering works.
The framework applies to all types of civil engineering works, both new and existing, and it is relevant for the assessment of the environmental, social and economic performance of new civil engineering works over their entire life cycle, and of existing civil engineering works over their remaining service life and end of life stage.
The sustainability performance assessment of civil engineering works concentrates on the assessment of aspects and impacts of civil engineering works expressed with quantifiable indicators. It includes the assessment of a civil engineering works’ influence on the environmental, social and economic impacts and aspects of the local infrastructure beyond the area of the civil engineering works, and environmental impacts and aspects resulting from transportation of the users of the civil engineering works and the use and exploitation of the infrastructure itself. It excludes environmental, social and economic risk assessment, but the results of the risk assessment should be taken into consideration.
The European Standards developed under this framework do not set the rules for how the different assessment methodologies may provide valuation methods; nor do they prescribe levels, classes or benchmarks for measuring performance.
NOTE   Valuation methods, levels, classes or benchmarks can be prescribed in the requirements for environmental, social and economic performance in the client’s brief, construction regulations, national standards, national codes of practice, civil engineering works assessment and certification schemes, etc.
The rules for assessment of environmental, social and economic aspects of organizations, such as management systems, are not included within this framework. However, the consequences of decisions or actions that influence the environmental, social and economic performance of the object of assessment are taken into account.

This European Standard forms one part of a suite of European Standards and provides the specific principles and requirements for the assessment of social performance of buildings taking into account technical characteristics and functionality of a building. Assessment of social performance is one aspect of sustainability assessment of buildings under the general framework of EN 15643-1.
The framework applies to all types of buildings, both new and existing, and it is relevant for the assessment of the social performance of new buildings over all stages of their life cycle, and of existing buildings to their end of life.
NOTE 1   Although all stages of the life cycle are considered in this European Standard, the choice of what is practical to cover in the implementation of this framework is the subject of prEN 16309, which is under development. The first version of prEN 16309 may limit the application of the framework to fewer than all life-cycle stages, depending on what methods are appropriate for European standardisation at this time. Future revisions of prEN 16309 will include the assessment of social performance for other stages of the building life cycle as appropriate methods for measurement are developed and become suitable for European standardisation.
The social dimension of sustainability concentrates on the assessment of aspects and impacts of a building expressed with quantifiable indicators. The social performance measures will be represented through indicators for the following social performance categories:
   accessibility;
   adaptability;
   health and comfort;
   loadings on the neighbourhood;
   maintenance;
   safety / security;
   sourcing of materials and services;
   stakeholder involvement.
The European Standards developed under this framework do not set the rules for how building assessment schemes may provide valuation methods. Nor do they prescribe levels, classes or benchmarks for measuring performance.
NOTE 2   Valuation methods, levels, classes or benchmarks may be prescribed in the requirements for environmental, social and economic performance in the client’s brief, building regulations, national standards, national codes of practice, building assessment and certification schemes, etc.
The rules for assessment of social aspects of organisations are not included within this framework. However, the consequences of decisions or actions that influence the social performance of the object of assessment are taken into account.

This European Standard forms one part of a series of European Standards for the assessment of buildings and provides specific principles and requirements for the assessment of economic performance of buildings taking into account technical characteristics and functionality of a building. Assessment of economical performance is one aspect of sustainability assessment of buildings under the general framework of EN 15643-1.
The framework applies to all types of buildings and it is relevant for the assessment of the economic performance of new buildings over their life cycle, and of existing buildings over their remaining service life and end of life stage.
The economic performance assessment of a building addresses the life cycle costs and other economic aspects, all expressed through quantitative indicators. It excludes the economic risk assessment of a building and return on investment calculations
It includes economic aspects of a building relating to the built environment within the area of the building site, it does not include economic aspects beyond the area of the building site, e.g. such as economic impacts of construction of local infrastructure or economic impacts resulting from transportation of the users of the building or economic impacts of a construction project on local community.
The standards developed under this framework do not set the rules for how the different assessment methodologies may provide valuation methods nor do they prescribe levels, classes or benchmarks for measuring performance.
NOTE   Valuation methods, levels, classes or benchmarks may be prescribed in the requirements for economic performance in the client’s brief, building regulations, national standards, national codes of practice, building assessment and certification schemes, etc.
The rules for assessment of economic aspects of organizations, such as management systems, are not included within this framework. However, the consequences of decisions or actions that influence the economic performance of the object of assessment are taken into account.

This European Standard forms one part of a series of European Standards and provides the specific principles and requirements for the assessment of environmental performance of buildings taking into account technical characteristics and functionality of a building. Assessment of environmental performance is one aspect of sustainability assessment of buildings under the general framework of EN 15643-1.
The framework applies to all types of buildings and it is relevant for the assessment of the environmental performance of new buildings over their entire life cycle, and of existing buildings over their remaining service life and end of life stage.
In this series of standards, the environmental dimension of sustainability is limited to the assessment of environmental aspects and impacts of a building on the local, regional and global environment. The assessment is on Life Cycle Assessment and additional quantifiable environmental information expressed with quantified indicators. It excludes the assessment of a building’s influence on the environmental aspects and impacts of the local infrastructure beyond the area of the building site, and environmental aspects and impacts resulting from transportation of the users of the building. It also excludes environmental risk assessment.
The standards developed under this framework do not set the rules for how different building assessment schemes may provide valuation methods. Nor do they prescribe levels, classes or benchmarks for measuring performance.
NOTE   Valuation methods, levels, classes or benchmarks may be prescribed in the requirements for environmental, social and economic performance in the client’s brief, building regulations, national standards, national codes of practice, building assessment and certification schemes, etc.
(...)

This European Standard provides the general principles and requirements, expressed through a series of standards, for the assessment of buildings in terms of environmental, social and economic performance taking into account technical characteristics and functionality of a building. The assessment will quantify the contribution of the assessed construction works to sustainable construction and sustainable development.
The framework applies to all types of buildings and it is relevant for the assessment of the environmental, social and economic performance of new buildings over their entire life cycle, and of existing buildings over their remaining service life and end of life stage.
The standards developed under this framework do not set the rules for how the different assessment methodologies may provide valuation methods. Nor do they prescribe levels, classes or benchmarks for measuring performance.
NOTE   Valuation methods, levels, classes or benchmarks may be prescribed in the requirements for environmental, social and economic performance in the client’s brief, building regulations, national standards, national codes of practice, certification schemes, etc.
The rules for assessment of environmental, social or economic aspects of organizations are not included within this framework. However, the consequences of decisions or actions that influence the environmental, social and economic performance of the object of assessment are taken into account.

This European standard provides core product category rules (PCR) for Type III environmental declarations for any construction product and construction service.
NOTE   The assessment of social and economic performances at product level is not covered by this standard.
The core PCR:
-   defines the parameters to be declared and the way in which they are collated and reported,
-   describes which stages of a product’s life cycle are considered in the EPD and which processes are to be included in the life cycle stages,
-   defines rules for the development of scenarios,
-   includes the rules for calculating the Life Cycle Inventory and the Life Cycle Impact Assessment underlying the EPD, including the specification of the data quality to be applied,
-   includes the rules for reporting predetermined, environmental and health information, that is not covered by LCA for a product, construction process and construction service where necessary,
-   defines the conditions under which construction products can be compared based on the information provided by EPD.
For the EPD of construction services the same rules and requirements apply as for the EPD of construction products.

This European Standard is one part of a suite of European Standards. The standard provides the specific methods and requirements for the assessment of social performance of a building while taking into account the building’s functionality and technical characteristics.
This European Standard applies to all types of buildings, both new and existing. In this first version of the standard, the social dimension of sustainability concentrates on the assessment of aspects and impacts for the use stage of a building expressed using the following social performance categories (from EN 15643 3):
-   accessibility;
-   adaptability;
-   health and comfort;
-   impacts on the neighbourhood;
-   maintenance;
-   safety and security.
NOTE 1   Only impacts and aspects of the above social performance categories are deemed to have an agreed basis for European standardization at this time. Two of the social performance categories included in EN 15643–3 (sourcing of materials and services and stakeholder involvement) are not deemed to be ready for standardization at this time and will be considered for inclusion in future versions of this standard (see informative Annex C).
This standard does not set the rules for how building assessment schemes may provide valuation methods. Nor does it prescribe levels, classes or benchmarks of performance.
Valuation methods, levels, classes or benchmarks may be prescribed in the requirements for environmental, social and economic performance in the client’s brief, building regulations, national standards, national codes of practice, building assessment and certification schemes, etc.
NOTE 2   Where National building regulations give minimum requirements and reference to assessment methods on these aspects, the social performance determined by assessment according to this standard can be used to determine the degree to which the building goes beyond the regulatory/legal requirements.
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) of organizations is not covered by this standard.
The standard gives requirements for:
-   the description of the object of assessment;
-   the system boundary that applies at the building level;
-   the list of indicators and procedures for the application of these indicators;
-   the presentation of the results in reporting and communication;
-   the data necessary for the application of the standard, and
-   verification.

This European standard provides core product category rules (PCR) for Type III environmental declarations for any construction product and construction service.
The core PCR:
- defines the parameters to be declared and the way in which they are collated and reported,
- describes which stages of a product’s life cycle are considered in the EPD and which processes are to be included in the life cycle stages,
- defines rules for the development of scenarios,
- includes the rules for calculating the Life Cycle Inventory and the Life Cycle Impact Assessment underlying the EPD, including the specification of the data quality to be applied,
- includes the rules for reporting predetermined, environmental and health information, that is not covered by LCA for a product, construction process and construction service where necessary,
- defines the conditions under which construction products can be compared based on the information provided by EPD.
For the EPD of construction services the same rules and requirements apply as for the EPD of construction products.