OVERVIEW
A Dwelling within Hero represents a single Home or Apartment within the Project..
Hero is a Multi-dwelling modelling tool in that it allows all Dwellings to be modelled within the one Hero Project & save file.
Dwellings have separate Chenath simulations performed upon them, and are issued individual NatHERS Certificates with the Project having a NatHERS Summary Certificate issued that agglomerates individual Dwelling NatHERS Star-ratings (see further details below).
Hero also creates a special Dwelling called a Common Area Dwelling for Class 2 multi-dwelling projects that contains Common Area Zones such as Carparks & Corridors (see below).
DWELLINGS WITHIN THE VISUAL-VIEW
Dwellings can be created, deleted & selected as the Current Selected Dwelling within the Visual-View Top Toolbar. The Current Selected Dwelling in the Visual-View Top Toolbar’s Dwelling list will become the parent Dwelling of any new Zones created within the Visual View.
For further information on Creating, Deleting & changing the Current Seleced Dwelling see Visual View Top Toolbar
DWELLINGS WITHIN THE DATA-GRID
For a Single Dwelling Project, most Dwelling information is integrated into the Project aspects of the Project Data-Grid and the Dwelling Data-Grid tab becomes hidden.
When a Project becomes a Multi-Dwelling project, the Dwellings Data-Grid tab becomes visible and further details on the Dwellings can be entered here.
DWELLING PROPERTIES
PROPERTY | DESCRIPTION | EDITED WITHIN |
|---|---|---|
Name | The Name of the Dwelling | Dwelling Data-Grid |
Unit Number Address | The Unit Number or sub-address of the Dwelling that will be prepended to the Project’s Address for NatHERS Certificates. E.g. A Dwelling with Unit Number “Unit 24” and Project Address “100 Main St” will have a final address on the NatHERS Certificate of “Unit 24, 100 Main St” | Dwelling Data-Grid |
Lot / Deposited Plan (DP) Number | Lot or Deposited Plan Number for the Project as per the existing or future Title. Used so that NatHERS Assessments can be tied to specific addresses regardless of future changes to addresses etc, and will potentially make it easier for future search & retrieval of NatHERS Assessment information by future owners or occupants. For Multi-Dwelling Projects, the Lot Number is entered on a Dwelling by Dwelling basis and can be found & edited within the Dwelling Data-Grid | Project Data-Grid (Dwelling Data-Grid for Multi-Dwelling Projects) |
Site Exposure | An attribute that describes the site context of each Individual Dwelling & that effects simulated wind & ventilation-speeds within the Chenath Simulation via a Shielding Factor. These are defined & guidance given to their selection within the NatHERS Technical Notes Options include:
Each Dwelling has it’s own Site Exposure that is determined based on it’s lowest Zone. The Site Exposure Property for Multi-Dwelling Projects gets moved from the Project Data-Grid tab to the Dwelling Data-Grid tab. E.g: The Top Level Apartments of a Class 2 Project may be Exposed whereas the Ground Level apartments may be Protected or Suburban etc. | Dwelling Data-Grid (Project Data-Grid for Single Dwelling Projects) |
Certificate Notes | An area available for the User to Document any additional information to be added to the NatHERS Certificate as per NatHERS & AAO Requirements for the Specific Dwelling. Typical uses of this section is to document any assumptions made for the project, any substitutions or deviations away from standard NatHERS Technical Note guidance. Certificate Notes at a Dwelling Level are combined with the Project level Certificate Notes. This enables the Project Data-Grid’s Certificate Notes to be used as Global notes for all apartments & the individual Dwelling Certificate Notes to be used for individual note requirements. | Dwelling Data-Grid |
COMMON AREA DWELLING
Hero uses the concept of a Common Area Dwelling to contain all Class 2 Common Areas such as Carparks & Corridor Zone Types. This allows Users to Draw & Model Multi-Dwelling Projects “as they are” and the proper Adjacency Types can get attributed automatically by Hero.
When a Zone’s Zone-Type is changed in the Zone Data-Grid to one of these Common Area Zone-Types (currently Carparks & Corridors) it automatically gets moved out of it’s current Dwelling into the Common Area Dwelling of the Project.
This Common Area Dwelling gets added into the Simulation for each individual Dwelling based on it’s connection to that Dwelling but holds no Simulation Results and does not have any NatHERS Certificates produced for it within the Hero Web-Portal.
Example:
Imagine a Multi-Dwelling Project with several Apartment Dwellings on the Ground Level with a Carpark Zone below them on the Basement Level and then several Apartment Dwellings on the First Level with a Corridor Zone adjacent to them.
The Carpark Zone should be modelled within Hero as it is geometrically and it’s Zone-Type chosen as Carpark. Likewise the Corridor Zone should be modelled as it is and it’s Zone-Type chosen as Corridor. This will move the Carpark & Corridor Zones into the Common Area Dwelling of the Project.
When the Ground Level Dwellings are Simulated, their individual Chenath Simulations will include the Carpark Zone automatically (with any further adjacencies between the Carpark & other Dwellings modelled as a Neighbouring Adjacency) and if they are not adjacent to the Corridor Zone above, this will be excluded from their individual Simulations.
Likewise when the First Level Dwellings are Simulated, their individual Chenath Simulations will exclude the Carpark Zone as they are adjacent to it, and the Corridor Zone will be included (with any adjacencies between the Corridor & other Dwellings modelled as a Neighbouring Adjacency)
For Further Information on Carpark & Corridor (Class 2) Zone-Types see: Zones
ZONES
A Dwelling contains one or more Zones that represent the individual rooms or separately modelled spaces in the Dwelling. Dwellings act as the Parent of Zone.
For further information see: Zones
DWELLINGS & CHENATH SIMULATIONS
Due to the construction of the NatHERS simulation protocol as well as the Chenath Engine, Dwellings are all simulated separately with individual Simulations within Chenath.
Adjacencies to Neighbouring Dwellings are always modelled as Neighbouring Adjacency Types (i.e. an Adiabatic externality) within Chenath and no heat transfer is assumed between these adjacencies.