How does CEEQUAL work?

To have a project assessed and verified under the CEEQUAL Scheme, the project team first needs to send an assessment registration form to CEEQUAL Ltd. Upon registration, the applicant organisation receives a copy of the latest version of the CEEQUAL Manual and a spreadsheet scoring table appropriate to the Award applied for. The Manual and spreadsheet will be used by the Assessor, who has to be trained at a CEEQUAL Assessor Training Course. Check the Training Courses page for details.

The first step in the assessment process is for the questions not relevant to the project to be scoped out in consultation between the Assessor and the Verifier appointed by CEEQUAL to verify the assessment.

The Assessor then addresses the questions, completes the scoring spreadsheet and gathers all the required supporting evidence. This may be done as a rolling activity throughout the life of the project, or near the end of the project, at the applicant’s choice. However, it is recommended that a decision on applying for a CEEQUAL assessment is taken early in the project life so that a CEEQUAL file of evidence can be compiled without difficulty as the project progresses. This way, the Manual can be used as a checklist and prompt for environmental action by the project team.

When the Assessor has completed the Assessment, the completed spreadsheet is sent to the Verifier for review and preparation for the Verification meeting, which normally takes place on site. Once the Assessor and Verifer have agreed the score, the final score and award recommendation is checked and ratified by CEEQUAL, and signed CEEQUAL Award certificates are presented to all project partners. The award presentation will usually be scheduled, in mutual agreement with the Award recipients, to coincide with a suitable public or professional event.

It is also possible to have a verified Interim Client & Design Award after some or all of the design has been completed. This can be particularly useful for long-term projects as it rewards the client & design team long before project completion. It also offers the opportunity to adjust the project's features and performance and thus aim for a higher score in the final verification for a Whole Project Award.

The Manual (without the scoring spreadsheets) can be purchased for £75 (plus p&p) from CEEQUAL. It may also be used as a checklist to improve the environmental performance of a project, without applying for an award or in order to apply for an award at a later stage.

To order a Manual please download an order form.

To register a project for a CEEQUAL Assessment and Award please download a registration form.

Please note that an Assessment can only be carried out by a CEEQUAL-trained Assessor. To find out about forthcoming Assessor training courses, please check the Training Courses page.

Who is CEEQUAL for?

• Public sector clients
• Private sector clients – for example, developers and end-users of civil engineering projects including water and wastewater treatment plants, energy plants, railways, ports and roads
• Designers
• Design-and-Build consortia
• Contractors
• Funders and regulators of construction schemes - who may want reassurance that projects are carried out in an environmentally responsible way.

Award types

• Whole Project Award, which is normally applied for jointly by or on behalf of the client, designer and principal contractor(s)
• Client & Design Award
• Design Award, applied for by the principal designer(s) only
• Construction Award, which can be applied for by the principal contractor(s)
• Design & Build Award for Design & Build and other partnership contracts.

The latter four awards have been made available for project team members who have project partners who do not wish to join with a Whole Project Award application, or perhaps wish to have their own contribution assessed alongside a Whole Project Award.

In addition, as indicated above, the Client and Design Award is available as an Interim Client & Design Award on the way to a Whole Project Award - see the feescale (pdf file) for details.

What level of achievement merits a CEEQUAL Award?

CEEQUAL assesses the extent to which the project has exceeded the statutory and regulatory minima (doing no more than what is legally required would be roughly equivalent to a zero score). Note that it is not possible for a 100% score to be achieved because of conflicting environmental issues in the assessment.

The Award thresholds, based on the maximum possible score for that project after the scoping-out is agreed by the Assessor and Verifier, are:

• Exceeded by 25% – Pass
• Exceeded by 40% – Good
• Exceeded by 60% – Very Good
• Exceeded by 75% – Excellent (For this Award, the actual score is given on the Award Certificate)

How much will a CEEQUAL assessment and award cost?