Project

OVERVIEW

A Project represents the highest level aspect of a Hero model. It holds high level data about the Project such as its Name, Type, as well as Site Information & Certification Notes.

It then holds either one Dwellingsor many Dwellings, as well as the various Levels that act as reference planes throughout the Project.

Most Project information is entered in the Project Data-Grid tab, with some aspects such as Levels & Project North dealt with in the Visual View.

These are expanded upon in further detail below.

PROJECT PROPERTIES

PROPERTY	DESCRIPTION	EDITED WITHIN
Name	The name of the Project. Used for organisational purposes & tracking within the Hero Web-Portal	Project Data-Grid
Reference Number	Reference Number for the Project, typically an Assessor’s own project numbering scheme. Used for organisational purposes & tracking within the Hero Web-Portal	Project Data-Grid
Type	The Project Type determines the type of NatHERS Certificate issued for the Project and is a critical property of the Project The available Project Types include: Class 1a New House/Townhouse(s): Default Project Type within Hero for a completely new House(s). Note can be used for Multi-Dwelling Class 1a Projects so that many townhouses or homes on a single development can be modelled within the one Project & Hero file. Class 1a Alteration/Extension House/Townhouse - Existing/Pre-Renovated Rating: Represents a Existing or “Prior to Renovation” NatHERS Assessment Project. For Renovation Projects, this Existing NatHERS Assessment & Hero File may be used to determine the Proposed Project’s required Star-Rating as per Building Regulation guidance Note in the future Hero may combine the Existing Rating & Proposed Rating into a single Hero file but for now these are modelled as separate Hero Projects (i.e. two Hero files) Class 1a Alteration/Extension House/Townhouse - Proposed/Renovated Rating Represents the Proposed NatHERS Assessment for a Renovation Project. May be used in combination with an Existing House NatHERS Assessment if required for partial compliance. Class 2 Apartment(s) Class 2 Projects typically have different star-rating requirements than Class 1a Project. A Class 2 Project is also issued a NatHERS Summary Certificate within the Hero Web-Portal that documents the Average Star-Rating for the Project as well as the individual Dwelling Star-Ratings. Class 4 Dwelling(s) Above Another Class Building	Project Data-Grid
Address (Street Address, Suburb)	The Project’s Street Address that will be added to the NatHERS Certificate	Project Data-Grid
Post Code	The Project’s Post-Code. Used within the NatHERS Certificate and also to determine the NatHERS Climate Zone that can be used for the Project	Project Data-Grid
Lot / DP #	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)
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. 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. For Multi-Dwelling Projects: 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.	Project Data-Grid (+ Dwelling Data-Grid for Multi-Dwelling Projects)
User Internal Notes	An area available for Users to record their own information relating to the Project for their own purposes such as for QA or organisational purposes.	Project Data-Grid

PROJECT SITE PROPERTIES

SITE PROPERTY

DESCRIPTION

EDITED WITHIN

Climate Zone

The available NatHERS Climate Zones for the Project as determined by the Post-Code.

All Post-Codes have a Main Climate Zone, and some have further Alternative Climate Zones that may be used.

When Alternative Climate Zones are used, as per NatHERS Technical Note guidance, this should be documented in the Certificate Notes section of the Project Data-Grid.

The Climate Zone determines the Weather File that will be used for Chenath Simulations.

Project Data-Grid

Site Exposure

An attribute that describes the site context of the Project & that effects simulated wind-speeds within the Simulation.

These are defined & guidance given to their selection within the NatHERS Technical Notes

Options include:

Exposed: Few or no obstructions. E.g. Flat grazing land, lake-side, ocean-frontage, desert, exposed high-rise unit without obstructions at a similar height to the dwelling
Open: Grasslands with few well scattered obstructions less than or equal to 10 m. E.g. Farmland with scattered sheds, lightly vegetated bush blocks, elevated units with a few obstructions of similar height to the dwelling
Suburban: Numerous closely spaced obstructions less than or equal to 10 m. E.g. Suburban housing, heavily vegetated bushland areas, townhouses
Protected: Numerous closely spaced obstructions greater than 10 m. E.g. City and industrial areas

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 to the Dwelling Data-Grid tab.

E.g: The Top Level Apartments of a Multi-Dwelling Project may be Exposed whereas the Ground Level apartments may be Protected or Suburban etc.

Project Data-Grid (Dwelling Data-Grid for Multi-Dwelling Projects)

Project North Arrow

The Direction of North on the Plans as relating to the way the Project is modelled in the Visual View.

Effects all Model objects within the Project and accounts for the fact that some Plans similarly have a Project North arrow in a direction other than directly up the page

For further information see Visual View Top Toolbar

Visual View

PROJECT ENGAGEMENT DETAILS

PROPERTY

DESCRIPTION

EDITED WITHIN

Plan Created By

The Designer or Architect who designed & documented the Project

Project Data-Grid

Plan Document Name & Revision

The details of the Plans, Drawing, Specification and/or Documentation that were used to conduct the NatHERS Assessment for the Project, such as Plan package name, or file name, or revision.

Allows Certifiers & Surveyors to ensure that the correct Design Drawings were used in the NatHERS Assessment.

Project Data-Grid

Conflict of Interest

Defines the relationship of the NatHERS Assessor & the Client and whether there are any Conflicts of Interest as per NatHERS & AAO recommendations.

DWELLINGS

The Project holds one or many Dwellings, which are the separate individual homes or townhouses or apartments within the Project.

Even a Single House Project within Hero still has 1 Project and 1 Dwelling within the Data Model, whereas a Multi-Dwelling Project may contain many Dwellings.

A Class 2 Multi-Dwelling Project may also contain a Common Area Dwelling which is a non-simulated Dwelling that holds Common Area Zones such as Common Corridors & Carparks.

Further Information: Dwellings

LEVELS

The Project holds one or more Levels which are Reference Planes that act to organise Model data both visually & within the Data-Grid.

Further Information: Levels