Wednesday 15th July 2026 marked the release of BREEAM Refurbishment and Fit Out V7 (BREEAM RFO V7). Two technical manuals and a summary of changes have been released to licensed assessors with registrations to open shortly on the BREEAM platform. Once registrations open, there will be a three-month grace period where RFO projects can either register on the new V7 methodology or the old 2014 methodology.
A key change is that there will now be two technical manuals, BREEAM Refurbishment V7 and BREEAM Fit Out V7.
- BREEAM Refurbishment covers building upgrades that may include changes to the fabric, structure, core building systems and operational performance of an existing asset. It is typically used where work extends beyond individual spaces to improve the overall building’s performance and longevity.
- BREEAM Fit Out is designed for tenant-led or interior-focused projects where the wider building structure and core systems are not being significantly altered. It focuses on interior spaces within a building, including layouts, finishes, furnishings and localised services. There are two levels to this with level one just looking at finishes (essentially a part 4 assessment) and level two looking at finishes and changes to local services (essentially part 3 and 4).
- If a project consist of a major refurbishment and fit out, then it is all assessed under BREEAM Refurbishment V7.
BREEAM RFO V7 marks the first update to the RFO methodology since 2014 and has aligned with the updates made in BREEAM New Construction V7 released towards the end of 2025. This includes a restructure of the health and wellbeing and energy credits as well as changes to how credits are awarded under Mat 01 Building life cycle assessment.
The update also brings in a new environmental category, Resilience, which brings together themes that were previously treated separately, including flood risk, natural hazards, durability and resilience, fire, security and surface water run-off.
Should you have any initial queries regarding RFO V7 please do not hesitate to get in touch. Element Sustainability are experienced, qualified BREEAM assessors and can certify your scheme.