How Does the Code Work?.

THE SUSTAINABILITY RATING SYSTEM

The Code uses a sustainability rating system with ratings from one to six stars depending on the extent to which it has achieved Code standards.

ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABILITY RATING

The sustainability rating which a home achieves represents its overall performance across the nine Code design categories. Minimum standards exist for a number of categories – these must be achieved to gain a one star (*) sustainability rating.

Energy efficiency and water efficiency categories also have minimum standards that must be achieved at every level of the Code.

Apart from these minimum requirements the Code is completely flexible; developers can choose which and how many standards they implement to obtain ‘points’ under the Code in order to achieve a higher sustainability rating.

The table below shows the nine design categories and the degree of flexibility afforded by each:

So, in order to achieve a particular code level and the associated sustainability rating, a home must integrate minimum standards, and additional points for other design features must be attained.

The table below shows the minimum standards, and number of points required in order to achieve each level of the Code:

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