The Usual | BREEAM In-Use Outstanding for The Usual

Two of only six hotels worldwide with BREEAM In-Use Outstanding

The Usual Brussels and The Usual Rotterdam have each been awarded BREEAM In-Use 'Outstanding' — the highest possible sustainability rating for an operational building.

What is BREEAM?

The world's leading standard for sustainable buildings

If you work in real estate or sustainability, you've probably heard the acronym. BREEAM — short for Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method — is the benchmark by which buildings around the world are measured against for their environmental and social performance. Since its launch over three decades ago, it has grown into the most widely adopted framework of its kind, used across more than 90 countries to evaluate everything from office towers to hotels.

What makes BREEAM In-Use different from other green building credentials is its focus on operational reality. Many certification schemes assess a building at the design or construction stage — before it has ever seen a guest, a heating bill, or a rainy winter. BREEAM In-Use looks at what actually happens once the doors open: how energy is consumed, how spaces are managed, how people experience the building day to day. Intentions don't count. Performance does.

There are five rating levels, from Pass through to Outstanding. That top tier requires a score above 85% — not by gaming the system in a few strong categories, but by demonstrating consistently high performance across the full breadth of the assessment. It is, by design, very hard to reach. Only a handful of hotels in the world have done it.

Who Stands Behind It

The Building Research Establishment

BREEAM is overseen by BRE Group (Building Research Establishment), a British scientific and technical organisation with roots going back to the early twentieth century. BRE operates independently — it has no financial interest in the buildings it certifies, and no incentive to award ratings that haven't been earned. Its purpose is research-driven: to raise the standard of the built environment through evidence, not commercial pressure.

Each assessment is conducted by an accredited, independent BREEAM assessor — a trained specialist who works through every relevant category of a building's performance. For international properties, assessments are reviewed and signed off by BRE directly. In the Netherlands, this role is carried out by DGBC (Dutch Green Building Council), the national body licensed to administer BREEAM certification for Dutch buildings. The Usual Rotterdam was assessed under BREEAM-NL, with DGBC overseeing the process. The result in both cases is a certification that carries real weight: recognised by institutional investors, municipal authorities, sustainability reporting bodies, and hospitality rating organisations across Europe and beyond.

The Criteria

What Outstanding actually requires

The assessment looks at a building holistically — not through a single environmental lens, but across a wide range of categories, each carrying its own weight in the final score. Reaching Outstanding means performing well across all of them. There is no shortcut, and there is no averaging your way there with one exceptional result masking weakness elsewhere.

The assessment covers:

* Energy — consumption, efficiency, renewable sources

* Water — usage reduction, monitoring, reuse

* Health & Wellbeing — daylight, air quality, comfort, accessibility

* Transport — public accessibility, low-impact mobility

* Materials & Resources — circular design, adaptability, recycling

* Land Use & Ecology — biodiversity, green infrastructure

* Resilience — long-term performance, climate adaptation

* Waste & Pollution — reduction, responsible disposal

What this list makes clear is that BREEAM Outstanding is not a narrow technical achievement. It is a whole-building result — one that touches the structure itself, the way it is run, and the experience of everyone inside it.

What We Did

How The Usual earned Outstanding — twice

For The Usual, sustainability was never a checkbox. It was the starting point. Both our Brussels and Rotterdam hotels were designed from the outset around the principle that a great guest experience and genuine environmental responsibility are not in conflict — they reinforce each other.

Both hotels operate entirely on renewable energy and are not connected to the gas grid. Water-saving fixtures and smart monitoring systems reduce consumption throughout operations. Every aspect of the guest environment — daylight access, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustic design — has been optimised with both wellbeing and performance in mind. And both properties are deeply embedded in their cities, with excellent public transport connections and infrastructure that encourages low-impact travel.

In the Resources category, both locations received exemplary recognition for circular design: provisions for reuse, materials designed for future adaptability, and buildings built to retain their value rather than generate waste over time.

"Sustainability is no longer a differentiator — it is a responsibility. Outstanding certification proves that long-term value creation and environmental performance go hand in hand."

GISELA BOERSMA, ESG & DESIGN MANAGER, THE USUAL

Looking Forward

A framework for everything that comes next

For The Usual, these certifications are not endpoints. They are the standard we have set for ourselves as we grow across Europe. BREEAM In-Use gives us a rigorous, proven framework — one that scales across different buildings, different cities, and different challenges — to ensure that every future location meets the same level of ambition as our first two.

Achieving Outstanding at the start is a deliberate signal. Sustainability will only become more important, and we intend to remain ahead of it.

The only hotel brand in the Benelux with two BREEAM Outstanding certifications.

The Usual has also received Green Key certifications and multiple international design and sustainability awards, reinforcing its positioning as a regenerative hospitality brand.

Among only 6 hotels worldwide to hold BREEAM In-Use Outstanding.

* BREEAM-NL In-Use certification for The Usual Rotterdam applies to "The Usual Rotterdam (excluding Pods by The Usual)" as defined in the official assessment documentation.

BREEAM In-Use Outstanding for The Usual