Tool application

Name of the tool
CEEQUAL - The Civil Engineering Environmental Quality and Assessment Scheme

Who applied the tool in the case?
• Reading Sewage Treatment Plant, Target Alliance (Thames Water, Black & Veatch and Taylor Woodrow Construction) Award: Excellent
• Newburn Riverside Land Reclamation, Newcastle-upon-Tyne One North East, WSP and Taylor Woodrow Award: Very Good
• Greyabbey & Kircubbin Wastewater Treatment Works, Northern Ireland Water Service and the Geda/EPS Consortium Award: Excellent

Time taken to fully apply the tool
Not specified

Any other interesting information about the tool

“CEEQUAL uses a credit-based assessment framework, which is applicable to any civil engineering project and includes environmental aspects such as the use of water, energy and land as well as ecology, landscape, nuisance to neighbours, archaeology, waste minimisation and management, and community amenity.

The CEEQUAL award scheme is based on a self-assessment carried out by a trained CEEQUAL Assessor (who can be a member of the applicant’s staff or sub-contracted by the applicant from a list that can be supplied by CEEQUAL Ltd) and verified by an external CEEQAL appointed Verifier (or a team of Verifies for large and/or complex projects). The construction clients, designers and/or contractors applying for an award under the CEEQUAL scheme will use this Manual, together with an Excel spreadsheet, to assess the performance of their project, starting with a scoping process, which is done in consultation with the Verifier. The applicant(s) will need to provide supporting documentary evidence in order to justify any score they award themselves (for example, project records, meeting minutes, photographs, construction record file, appropriately signed statements). The Verifier will use this evidence to ensure that the self-assessment is accurate, and seek changes – increasing or decreasing the score – where appropriate, before the award can be given."

(CEEQUAL Manual Version 2)

"The sections in the scheme have been pre-weighted by CEEQUAL, and these weightings are embedded in the scores awarded for each question. The weightings have been based on consultation within the CEEQUAL Project Advisory Group and their colleagues. The weighting factors as used in the CEEQUAL Version 2 Manual are (this is an abbreviated version, full details can be found on p11 of the manual):
1. Project environmental management 12.03%
2. Land use 7.93%
3. Landscape 7.27%
4. Ecology & biodiversity 9.70%
5. Archaeological & cultural heritage 5.73%
6. Water issues 9.27%
7. Energy 7.73%
8. Use of materials 9.50%
9. Waste 9.57%
10. Transport 8.47%
11. Nuisance to neighbours 6.63%
12. Community relations 6.17%

There are four grades of awards for all of the types of Awards:
Pass = over 25%
Good = over 40%
Very Good = over 60%
Excellent = over 75%
It should be noted that in this context that a 100% score in the CEEQUAL assessment is not possible. There are issues that are conflict with each other, and a high score in one aspect may mean that points will be lost in other aspects. Applicants and their assessors will have to accept this point, and the fact that the award level criteria have been worked out to take account of this point.

It also should be pointed out that the CEEQUAL assessment has been designed to reward efforts to go beyond the legal minima, striving for best environmental practice and “going the extra mile”. Therefore a Pass at 25% suggests that the project has taken the necessary steps that can be considered as at or close to current ‘Good Practice’, but without going much further.”
(CEEQUAL Manual Version 2)

Case study/ies where tool is in use