No! to get your building permit, you need to assure authorities that your building is energy efficient. If you are undertaking a residential development of:
- Class 1a building (dwellings)
- Class 2 building (apartments)
- Class 4 building (a sole-occupancy unit within a commercial building)
Then, one of the common ways of energy efficiency compliance is to obtain a NatHERS Certificate. Depending on the state and year of applying, your house may need to have a 6 star energy rating or 7 star rating.
For some complex designs with high ceilings or glazed walls, the building may fail to get a NatHERS Certificate, or, the construction costs gets too high to obtain that. In these cases, VURB is the compliance method that we recommend to reduce building construction costs, while achieving energy compliance.