The NABERS National Administrator has released a new Indoor Environment (IE) for offices tool as a fully-functional pilot that formally ends on September 30, 2015.
The pilot allows stakeholders the opportunity to test the new NABERS IE methodology and provide feedback before the tool is finalised in September. The much anticipated upgrades to the (IE) tool were released to building owners and tenants across Australia earlier this year.
The NABERS national rating system is best known for measuring the Indoor Environment (IE) but it also covers energy efficiency, water usage and waste management.
Indoor environment quality (IEQ) in office buildings has been gaining increasing attention lately as the research linking IEQ to occupant health and comfort has grown, and investors are starting to look more closely at the social aspects of sustainability.
NABERS initially launched its IE tool in 2009 as the first performance-based tool of its kind in the world. Star ratings are based on objective measurements of thermal comfort, lighting, air quality and acoustics, as well as subjective measurements of occupant satisfaction with the indoor conditions in an office.
While the number of ratings has been growing steadily on an annual basis, a technical working group was formed in 2013 to address a number of issues that were raised during the tool’s first few years in operation. They were also tasked with exploring ways to make the tool more valuable and useful to property portfolios and facility management companies.
NABERS acting program manager, Carlos Flores, said the pilot is a big step forward for one of the program's most promising tools.
“NABERS IE has always had the potential to make a big impact on the Australian office sector.” Flores said.
“These changes allow users to gain much greater insight into how the rating is calculated, how the building is performing in all areas of indoor environment quality and how it can improve.
“A NABERS IE rating allows building owners to demonstrate to tenants and investors that they take a holistic approach to sustainability with buildings that are good for the environment and for the people who occupy them.”
The changes include:
An expansion of the star rating scale to 6 stars;
An intuitive way to determine the star rating obtained as well as how much improvement is required to reach the next star rating;
A more effective way to communicate performance on each aspect of the rating. Users can now easily see what aspects of IEQ performance are working well from others especially where there is significant potential for improvement;
A new rating report which provides greater details into the building performance;
Technical updates to align the tool with the latest international standards and science.
“NABERS has been very fortunate to have some of the brightest minds from the property and IEQ sectors helping to create these enhancements.,” Flores said.
“It allowed us to create a user-centric rating tool with very innovative features that would have otherwise not been possible.
“We’re big believers in consultation and testing. The idea of a pilot came directly from industry stakeholders, and will allow us to test the tool on the ground and quickly address any teething issues that may come up,” he said.
“We believe NABERS Indoor Environment can be the catalyst that allows Australia to once again lead the world, this time in creating healthy and productive workplaces.”
NABERS is a national initiative managed by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage on behalf of federal, state and territory governments. For details on the new NABERS IE email nabers@environment.nsw.gov.au.