If you are building a new home or undertaking major renovations, a NatHERS Design Assessment can help you obtain the most energy efficient design for your build. These assessments utilise building plans and construction details to predict the amount of heating and cooling your home will need to stay comfortable throughout the year and provide both a star rating as well as recommendations for improvement to the design.
What is the process for getting a NatHERS Design Assessment?
You as architects, designers, builders and/or homeowners, provide us with house plans and construction details for your new home or renovation (Note: the earlier in the design phase that we are engaged the better as many recommendations including orientation can be incorporated into the design from the start at little or no cost as opposed to more expensive fixes for a poorly performing design further down the track.)
We as accredited assessors input all of the relevant building data into NatHERS software including:
size and function of rooms
size and specification of openings
building materials, windows, products
type of construction
dwelling orientation
location
The software then calculates the temperature of each room/zone in the house for every hour of the year based on the local climate data and the building specs and goes on to predict how much heating and cooling will be used by the occupants to make the house comfortable. i.e. it predicts when most people will turn on the A/C or heater to warm or cool the house and how much energy will be used to bring it to a comfortable temperature.
From these results a star rating is generated on a scale from 1-10, 1 being terrible, 10 being the best possible score.
We then provide you with a report outlining the results and depending on what the rating is and what you want it to be, we can move on to identify weak points in the design and construction and test alternatives to fine tune your home to improve thermal comfort, the star rating and ultimately meet your sustainability goals.
Upon receiving your updated plans and construction documents we can then certify the rating and provide you with a NatHERS certificate and stamped and certified plans.
