Everything That You Wanted To Know about BASIX Certificate

BASIX, also known as The Building Sustainability Index, is an NSW Government planning requisite that affects anyone submitting a DA, S96 or CC Building Application in NSW when it comes to a new house, alteration, addition, townhouse, villa, swimming pool, units and/or outdoor spa. BASIX can be divided into three parts:

Water Efficiency

It recommends a reduction of water consumption by a minimum of 40% in comparison to a standard house (homes without any water-saving measures) for new houses/townhouses and a 30% compared to the standard apartment for apartments. Sometimes the water consumption reduction for apartments can even get to 40%, which is totally contingent on the size of the development, suburb, etc.

The only way to achieve water efficiency is by utilising rated water appliances including showerheads, cisterns and taps. It is equally essential to utilise the rainwater tanks for garden watering usage. You can even use it for laundry, toilets, and pools, whenever applicable.

Thermal Comfort

NATHERS is a national scheme which is mandatory in NSW and not all states of Australia. According to the scheme, dwellings are rated based on their thermal performance during summer and winter.

To achieve this, simulation is done of the proposed dwelling with the help of speciality software packages, including Firstrate, Bers, and AccuRate.

Here, the complete geography of the precisely targeted building along with the neighbourhood buildings for location, orientation, building construction and shading are inputted. All of these are collectively calculated, which helps in predicting the cooling and heating loads.

Depending on the location and building type, BASIX has set certain benchmarks that need to be accomplished. Once the software replicates the anticipated loads, they are then matched with the BASIC benchmarks.

In case the loads are higher than permissible, construction specifications encompassing insulation levels, window types, colours, wall types, etc. are modified or optimised to make the dwelling comply.

Energy Efficiency

Just like the water efficiency section, electric appliances like water heaters, air conditioners, lights, and others like solar photovoltaic systems are mentioned to get 30% to 40% energy usage reduction in comparison to a standard dwelling. There are times when the thermal comfort section can also have a significant effect on energy efficiency performance. The reason being, a well-performing dwelling needs little to no air conditioning usage, which contributes positively to this section.

When all these are integrated into a single document, it is called a BASIX Certificate. It is employed as a specification sheet by architects and builders during the building process. Building certifiers can get the requisite checklist during the completion of the project so that they can get the Occupation Certificate issued. It is important for all the information contained in the BASIX Certificate and the HSTAR universal certificate (thermal comfort section) has to be reflected in the building.