Travel Plans for BREEAM

Buildings for Tomorrow can provide a Travel Plan for your development. This may be solely to satisfy the BREEAM credit T8. It may be as a planning requirement. Or it may be that the building occupants choose to look at ways to reduce their transport emissions voluntarily.

The aim of the Plan is to look at ways of minimising ‘one person one car’ use at the site.

Firstly the Plan will look at the existing situation. What transport links there are to the site and any potential for improving these. Does the new development mean that a new bus service would be warranted for example?

The Plan will also consider what alternative options are available, such as a car sharing scheme, a ‘pool car’, cycle purchase schemes, a minibus to the train station, walking groups, video conferencing, work from home schemes, etc. Certain areas have funding available for promoting alternative forms of transport. For example help is available in Cardiff and South Wales from Sustrans to set up a ‘pool bike scheme’ for a workplace. In Bristol there are grants to buy bicycle stands. The Travel Plan will contain information on what local grants are available.

Once the building is occupied a Travel Plan Coordinator should be appointed. This person will be responsible for implementing the Travel Plan. They should conduct a survey of the occupants’ mode of travel and set up a working group with input from management level within the first 6 months. This will then be an evolving process, with meetings and activities to promote more sustainable travel at intervals throughout the year.

BREEAM rewards sites for a low number of parking spaces. Travel plans can provide help with ways to allot these parking spaces fairly. Some buildings use the ‘first come first served approach’. Others give financial incentives, offer spaces to car sharers etc.

Prices for Travel plans are available on request: sue.waring@buildingsfortomorrow.co.uk