This method can only be used for boarding houses (which includes student accommodation) that meet all the criteria below:
-
- it must be designed to accommodate more than 12 people, or the total floor area must exceed 300 m2
- at least 80% of the dwellings must be less than 35 m2, and
- it may only comprise residential flat buildings.
If the boarding house doesn’t meet all these criteria, but does contain dwellings of less than 35 m2, you may apply for an alternative assessment as a large boarding house.
The large boarding house thermal comfort method allows the thermal comfort to be assessed at a later stage (i.e. the construction certificate stage) against the Section J requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) – Volume 1. This is because NatHERS accredited software is unsuitable to model the thermal comfort of individual boarding house rooms.
The method does not require you to input any data for heating and cooling loads. Instead, the Tool automatically enters values for heating and cooling loads equivalent to the heating and cooling caps in the climate zone of the project.