Lessons from 30+ 7-Star Projects: What Architects Need to Know
Since starting ARKATA almost 2 years ago, I’ve certified 30+ projects, sitting at an average of 7.3 Stars, with the lowest being 6.0, and the highest being 8.8.
Across all projects, uncertified and certified, I’ve conducted 1,000’s of simulations and prepared countless reports detailing how to achieve healthy, comfortable, and resilient homes using the NatHERS framework.
For the past 2 years, I’ve worked with the 7-Stars software, NCC 2022, and Whole of Home components to help architects prepare for the changes we’re now fully underway with and in this time, I’ve come to recognise 3 key indicators for success that I want to share with you.
Timing is everything
How many stars?
Where is your Kitchen and Living zone?
Timing is Everything
I sound like a broken record at this point but in my opinion timing is everything.
When I was on the architectural side of the fence, we got our energy assessments completed towards the end of the process, right before we were going in to the certifier for building rules consent and development approval. I say it worked because eventually the energy assessor got it working, but it was usually after a few weeks of attempts, coordination, and frustration.
(Since becoming an assessor, I do not envy the position we put the assessor in time and time again).
Often, in a multi-residential development, there were always a few homes that lacked the benefits of passive solar access and often vastly underperformed the development.
Was the developer ever happy to spend a little more on these troublesome units without seeing some kind of return or benefit to that investment? When the assessor recommended a variation in glazing performance, tinted windows, or external shading devices or eaves, it was usually met with a resounding no.
That “no” soon enough became a reluctant “yes” because we couldn’t get approvals without the compromise.
But it didn’t have to be this way. By adjusting the architectural process to allow for a preliminary energy efficiency assessment prior to the submission of planning approval, you’re able to identify complexities early and make a plan to accommodate them. It doesn’t quite matter whether that plan involves accounting for the adjustments necessary in the budgets of simply designing them out, because what you get by engaging early is flexibility and options.
And as we know, when it comes to anything project management, architecture, design, or construction, having flexibility and options can make or break the project.
How Many Stars?
Having conducted many assessments now, I’ve put together this breakdown of the initial star rating outcome and their likelihood of meeting 7-Stars:
If 0 < Stars < 3: Can it achieve 7-Stars? No, impossible.
If 3 < Stars < 4: Can it achieve 7-Stars? No, extremely challenging, so sometimes yes.
If 4 < Stars < 5: Can it achieve 7-Stars? Challenging, but yes.
If 5 < Stars < 6: Can it achieve 7-Stars? Yes.
If 6 < Stars < 7: Can it achieve 7-Stars? Yes.
There’s always nuance of course. A troubled 3.5 Star home with good design, orientation, and window to floor area ratios can meet 7-Stars while a seemingly robust 5.5 Star home might struggle to make the jump to 7-Stars as it is already at its upper limit.
But guess what? You don’t know without trying, and trying early means having the best chance at bridging the gap in front of you.
For ARKATA, anything below 5-Stars gets flagged with the architect early, with anything below 4-Stars coming with a cautious concern, but again, we never know how difficult it is until we try and bridge the gap. If the requirements for getting to 7-Stars becomes increasingly onerous, we flag it and move towards design management.
There’s nothing worse than having these conversations with your client, but I assure you, having them before design is fully locked in and you have planning approval is far better than having them before you go for that final tick of approval the client is so eager to get.
Where is your Kitchen and Living zone?
This is a recent one but deserves attention. Where the Kitchen and Living zone is located has been the difference between success or the creation of a challenging process.
What I’ve noticed is that upper floor living configurations have struggled considerably.
NatHERS loves thermal mass, and when we have the Kitchen and Living zone upstairs with no thermal mass, the entire project suffers. In all projects the Kitchen and Living zone is the largest consumer of energy throughout the year and because of this, it has the largest influence on the performance of the home.
Because the Kitchen and Living will almost always be the zone with the highest energy consumption, use it to your advantage and orient the Kitchen and Living zone towards the north and keep it on the ground floor. This allows you to align the benefits of passive solar design with the zone that has the highest influence on the overall star rating, setting the project up for success.
A Conduit for Better Living
As an architect, you’re a conduit for enabling the people you serve to live better lives. As a consultant who helps architects, I view myself as a conduit to enabling this and making it easier to deliver.
Being an effective conduit means being proactive and engaging with industry changes with curiosity and open-mindedness. 7-Stars is more of a process change than anything else. Sure, you might have slightly better specifications in most cases, but this is only because we’re coming off the back of such low specifications in comparison to the rest of the world.
But when you engage with the energy efficiency process is more of a determiner of success than simply throwing specifications at the building. Even the highest level of glazing performance won’t bridge the gap created by poor design.
Ultimately, by working together as early as possible in your architectural workflow, you will deliver to your clients:
Confidence
Clarity
Certainty
& healthier, more comfortable, and more resilient homes