If you’re working in the residential and commercial building development industry, you must have heard about NABERS Rating for internal environment and WELL Building standards. However, more and more commercial building developers and project owners are opting for dual sustainability certification.
So, what’s dual Certification? And how is it beneficial for the builder/project owners and the occupants?
Let’s find out!
What Is NABERS IE And WELLS Building Standards?
Both NABERS Rating for Indoor Environment (NABERS IE) and the WELL Building Standard is performance-based sustainability certification tools that measure elements of the indoor environment.
While NABERS IE and WELL both assess the operational performance of the building, WELL also considers overall building design and organisational policies.
NABERS Ratings
NABERS considers thermal comfort services, indoor air quality, acoustic comfort, artificial and natural lighting elements, and office layout to rate the performance of the base building, tenancies, and the entire building.
The sustainability level and living standard are awarded through a NABERS 1-6 star rating. It determines a benchmark standard for your building or tenancy performance against the market standards.
1-star NABERS Rating indicates poor performance, while a 3-star rating determines an average performing development. A 6-star rating, on the other hand, denotes a market leader.
Always hire qualified professionals for NABERS and JV3 assessment. NABERS Ratings are valid for 12 months.
WELL Building Standard
WELLv2 pilot uses bronze to platinum scale to rate buildings and tenancy performance. Once your building meets all necessary WELL standards, you can earn higher certification levels by implementing optional optimisation features.
The validity of WELL Building standard certification is three years. During the entire tenure of WELL certification, your project needs to maintain the necessary sustainability standards by complying with annual monitoring requirements.
To maintain WELL Certification once the initial certification period is over after three years, your project must fulfil requirements for recertification. Your projects will be eligible for WELL recertification only if all applicable ongoing annual monitoring and submission standards have been met as documented in the WELL feature language.
What Is The NABERS IE and WELL Building Standard Crosswalk?
NABERS assessment and the WELL rating systems share many common approaches and practices for achieving Certification.
Both rating systems need third-party testing performed by accredited and trained individuals in each system’s particular performance testing process. The WELL standard accessors are referred to as WELL Performance Testing Agents.
NABERS Rating for Internal Environment IE and WELL have pre-defined detailed testing protocols, including
Determining the sampling locations for comparison,
Using proper equipment for assessment,
Completing rigorous and adhering to auditing procedures.
Crosswalk is specifically designed for architects, building developers, or project owners who want to acquire dual certifications or ratings under WELL and NABERS IE. The collaborative approach creates a streamlined pathway, explicitly for ongoing requirements under WELL standards for annual monitoring of different indoor environment quality (IEQ) related metrics.
You can enjoy maximum benefits for your indoor environmental quality assessment. You can use a single set of measurements for both rating tools.