The National House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is a National, unified framework for assessing the thermal energy of a house, either at design stage or end of build stage. Read more about the organisation at www.nathers.gov.au.
Currently there are two organisations that accredit the individual NatHERS assessors:
1. The Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA)
2. Building Designers Association of Victoria (BDAV)
However, it’s possible that in the future there will be a third, more comprehensive organisation that accredits assessors.
The Building Verification Council
The Building Verification Council (the BVC) has been seut up by the recently departed chief executive of ABSA, Roger Hills. He aims for the BVC to become recognised as the peak body for demonstrating building performance through “verification, assurance and testing, instead of just prediction and modelling alone.”
Here he is responding to the frustration felt by sustainability advocates and homeowners that whle homes may achieve a NatHERS rating, there is not always a guarantee that all the measures required for a particular rating have been put in place in the final build. Presumably, the BVC would be advocating for a more stringent compliance system that is adhered to in a unified, national manner.
.jpg) |
| Photo: B & S Coulstock |
How will it be funded?
The BVC will be funded by industry membership (comprising peak bodies and representative organisations of relevant industries) and business sponsorship. The aim is for the BVC to be fully operational by May 2016.
The aim is for individuals to then become certified as assessors, as opposed to accredited through one of the two current accrediting associations.
What will be the benefits?
ABSA should have been able to do what the BVC is setting out to do, but obviously there were limitations that Hills is hoping to not be bound by with the establishment of the BVC. The main change would be that assessors would have much higher training requirements to become certified, and therefore require far less monitoring to achieve the required quality control.
If the current plans are fulfilled, the BVC will oversee a three-stage process for Assessor certification (with protocols, tools and compliance regulations for each stage)
- at Design stage
- at Construction stage
- and at Operation stage
One of the more interesting proposals put forward by the BVC is for buildings to have a unified “Performance Label” that lists a number of different sustainability-related attributes of a building, each with possible ten star rating.
Great gains have been made in recent years to improve and unify the way Building Performance and Sustainability are measured. If the BVC is able to become established, it will no doubt continue to improve the way assessments are made, and also improve the understanding of the Australian public about the role of building star ratings.
If you would like further information regarding House Energy Star Ratings, please contact us at BERA.