Background
How was CEEQUAL developed?
CEEQUAL was developed by a team led by the Institution
of Civil Engineers (ICE), with government financial support
from the UK Government and from the ICE's Research &
Development Enabling Fund.
The development of CEEQUAL was managed by Crane Environmental
Ltd, with active support and participation from relevant
government departments and agencies, leading civil engineering
consultants and contractors as well as professional and
industry associations such as CIRIA, the Association for
Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) and the Civil Engineering
Contractors Association (CECA).
The organisations contributing resources to the project
are the Project Partners listed on the right, many of
whom now own shares in CEEQUAL Ltd, the company set up
to run the scheme.
Following extensive industry-wide consultation and trialling,
the scheme was launched in September 2003 and the first
eight Awards presented at the ICE. The Scheme went public
in June 2004 with the publication of Version 3 of the
Assessment Manual for Projects.
Since then, CEEQUAL has become the accepted UK industry
scheme for assessing environmental and sustainability
performance in civil engineering and public realm projects,
and is now widely used by major civil engineering clients,
designers and contractors.
A substantially revised and updated version of the CEEQUAL
Manual – Version 4 of the CEEQUAL Manual for Projects
– was launched in November 2008. A new ‘Term-Contracts’
version of the Manual relating to maintenance and small
works is currently being developed and is due to be launched
in 2010.
What are CEEQUAL's objectives in relation to other environmental
tools?
The objective in setting up CEEQUAL was to encourage
the attainment of environmental and social excellence
in civil engineering and public realm projects and to
deliver improved environmental and sustainability performance
in project specification, design and construction.
In the development of CEEQUAL, account was taken of the
substantial body of research and experience relating to
environmental issues on construction projects, environmental
management of design and construction, and the Building
Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method
(BREEAM).
However, unlike BREEAM, where there are specific schemes
for different types of building, CEEQUAL is an assessment
framework appropriate to any civil engineering or public
realm project. The CEEQUAL Assessment Manual can be applied
to roads and railways, airports, coast and river works,
water supply and wastewater treatment, power stations,
retail and business parks, and projects of any scale –
from less than £75,000 to £3 billion and beyond.
The differences between the various types of civil engineering
projects are taken account of in the scoping-out process
carried out at the beginning of each assessment.
CEEQUAL includes environmental aspects such as the use
of water, energy and carbon, land use, ecology, landscape,
noise and dust, cultural heritage, waste minimisation
and management, and social issues such as the effects
on neighbours and community relations.
Awards are made to projects in which the clients, designers
and constructors have gone beyond the legal and environmental
minima, to achieve distinctive environmental standards
of performance.
CEEQUAL is a scheme currently operated by and for the
UK construction industry and is also being used in the
Republic of Ireland. Discussions are in progress for country-
or region-specific versions of CEEQUAL to be developed
in the future.