Extract

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) has played a significant role in demonstrating the thermal performance compliance of residential buildings in Australia. However, NatHERS tools are rarely used during conceptual analysis to help iteratively improve and optimise the performance of buildings throughout the design process. A significant contributor to the lack of adoption in the design process is the user interface of these tools, which rely on manual data input, making them incompatible with typical Building Information Modelling (BIM) workflows. This paper describes a working software prototype called SketchuRATE that has the potential to convert BIM data directly into the AccuRate Sustainability file format, minimising the need for manual data entry or duplication. Once fully functional, a tool like SketchuRATE could shift the focus of house energy ratings away from achieving only minimum compliance, towards more economical, optimised and improved thermal performance outcomes.

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