The BBC is committed to creating buildings that are rated highly by BREEAM, the leading environmental assessment method for building performance. We do this by specifying at the design stage of the building what rating we would like it to achieve.

New developments at Broadcasting House, London W1 and in partnership with MediaCityUK at Salford Quays, Manchester are being built to the BREEAM Excellent standard.

For existing buildings, we try and manage them to perform as effectively as possible. This is achieved through an environmental management system that is aligned with ISO 14001, as well as monitoring the various building management systems to perform at their optimum.

There are also corporate environmental strategy targets in place to reduce our footprint in energy, waste and water (see the BBC Outreach website).

Having a large property portfolio means that our buildings have to play a part in helping to deliver these reduction targets. This is managed through a mixture of engineering projects and staff behavioural change.

For example, replacing boilers at our London White City building with newer, more efficient technology and the roll-out of source-segregated recycling provision at our eight largest buildings will increase the recycling rate and thus reduce waste to landfill.