AutoBREL is BRS Technology's photographic evidence capture app. It exists for one job: helping the site team gather and organise the photos that the BREL As-Built submission needs.
What AutoBREL does
Builds a checklist of every photograph a dwelling needs — element by element, based on the dwelling's spec.
Captures photos on site through a mobile app, automatically tagging each one with date, time, location and project reference.
Flags gaps and deviations in real time as the site team works.
Exports a structured evidence pack at the end — photos organised by element — for the SAP assessor or BREL signer to attach to their submission.
What AutoBREL does not do
It is important to be clear about scope. AutoBREL is the photo-capture app — not a SAP calculator, not a BREL report generator, and not the overall submission tool.
It does not run SAP — that stays with the SAP assessor.
It does not produce the BREL As-Built report itself — that is the assessor's output.
It does not assemble the full submission bundle (EPC, commissioning certificates, air-tightness certificate) — those come from elsewhere and are added by the assessor.
It does not decide pass or fail — that is determined by the re-run As-Built SAP, which sits outside AutoBREL.
Why this matters now
Since June 2022, every new dwelling in England has needed a BREL As-Built submission under Approved Document L 2021. The submission has to include photographic evidence proving the home was built to the design specification.
Without a structured tool, this becomes a folder of un-named phone photos that nobody can audit. AutoBREL gives the site team a list to follow and the SAP assessor a clean pack to sign off against.
Who uses AutoBREL
Site managers and contractor admins — running the capture during construction.
SAP assessors and OCDEAs — reviewing the evidence pack before attaching it to their BREL submission.
Developers and self-builders — making sure the evidence is gathered without slowing the build.
Retrofit Coordinators — adapting AutoBREL for PAS 2035 retrofit evidence (where the requirements are similar but less formal).
Typical time on a project
Project set-up and spec entry: couple of minutes for initial set up, then duplication is very quick.
On-site capture: 15–30 minutes per dwelling, spread across the build programme.
Pre-handover review by the assessor: 15–30 minutes per dwelling.
Export and handover: under 5 minutes.
For a typical 4-bedroom new build, AutoBREL turns the photo-evidence portion of BREL from an open-ended late-stage scramble into a structured 1–2 hours of total work across the project. For multi-plot sites, set-up time per additional plot drops sharply because the spec can be duplicated.
Tags: autobrel, intro, getting-started.