CEEQUAL

Civil engineering and public realm schemes have an increasing need to demonstrate to clients, project funders and regulators that environment and sustainability issues have been considered and visibly addressed. The CEEQUAL assessment and awards scheme, developed by the Institution of Civil Engineers and partners, addresses this.

Assessment must be carried out by a trained and certified Assessor. Stroma Technology’s in-house CEEQUAL Assessors can carry out the assessment on a client’s behalf, and work with design and construction teams to achieve the desired CEEQUAL Award for their project.

The CEEQUAL Assessment and Award Process

CEEQUAL assesses the extent to which the project exceeds the minimum standards required by law, and assigns a rating accordingly:

• Exceeded by >25% – Pass
• Exceeded by >40% – Good
• Exceeded by >60% – Very Good
• Exceeded by >75% – Excellent

There are five types of CEEQUAL Award available, depending on which members of the project team wish to participate in the Award application:

• Whole Project Award: normally applied for jointly by or on behalf of the client, designer and principal contractor(s).
• Client & Design Award: awarded at the design stage; also available as Interim Award, which can be verified after some or all of the design is completed, before going on to apply for a Whole Project Award.
• Design Award: applied for by the principal designer(s) only.
• Construction Award: applied for by the principal contractor(s).
• Design & Build Award: specifically for Design and Build and other partnership contracts.

Stroma Technology can provide advice on the most appropriate type of Award to meet an individual project’s needs. Dependant on the type of Award and contract value, a sliding scale of fees are payable to CEEQUAL for registration and Award. These are payable in installments.

After a project is registered for CEEQUAL assessment, CEEQUAL assigns an independent Verifier who will work with the CEEQUAL Assessor to agree which of the CEEQUAL questions are relevant to the specific project. The questions are grouped into a number of categories, each carrying a predefined score weighting:

1. Project Management
2. Land Use
3. Landscape
4. Ecology & Biodiversity
5. The Historic Environment
6. Water resources and the Water Environment
7. Energy and Carbon
8. Material Use
9. Waste Management
10. Transport
11. Effects on Neighbours
12. Relations with the Local Community and other Stakeholders

The CEEQUAL Assessor then compiles the scoring and file of supporting evidence. We recommend that the CEEQUAL assessment and evidence-gathering is carried out in parallel with the project, allowing for early changes to achieve the best possible scoring; however our Assessors are also able to carry this out retrospectively, post-completion.

The scoring and evidence is then sent to a CEEQUAL-appointed Verifier for review, before finally being ratified by CEEQUAL itself. Finally, the Award is presented at a mutually convenient date: most winning teams choose to make this part of a public or professional event, to showcase their achievement.

To discuss how CEEQUAL could add value to your specific project and the steps to take towards achieving an Award, please call 0845 621 22 22 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .