ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the utility of building environmental assessment (BEA) tools for sustainability policy making. An increasing number and widening range of environmental assessment tools have been produced in recent years. BEA tools aim to contribute to the successful implementation of sustainability policies and initiatives in housing. Tools can be mapped and analysed in terms of the development scale city, precinct or building and when the assessment is made: after construction, in the operational phase, or during the planning and design phase. Advocates of the design phase of assessment argue that it important to predict performance at the design phase because it is hard to rectify problems after construction. It is argued that metrics cannot fulfil all the needs of planning assessment because metrics are generic and require interpretation in the local context. Using metrics that follow the ISO 14000 and principles-to-indicator approach for BEA tools provides a logical structure to deal with the complexity of environmental management and assessment.
