Pick up where you left off.
Course Content
Designing Thermal Zones for Better NatHERS Performance
Draw the zones wrong and the model heats and cools rooms nobody uses.
How to define, map and document thermal zones so the NatHERS model matches how the house is lived in. The zoning and combining rules in the NatHERS Technical Note, bedroom complexes, split levels, voids and open plans, how boundaries move heating and cooling loads and condensation risk, and the layout changes and documentation that keep designer, assessor and certifier reading the same plan.
Secure card checkout. Tax invoice emailed.
4 modules, a zoning comparison, final quiz and certificate.
Introduction and objectives
Why zoning decides how a NatHERS model spreads heating and cooling, and what you will be able to do by the end.
Understanding Thermal Zones
Tell conditioned, unconditioned and combined zones apart, apply the Technical Note rules, and stop misclassifying wet areas and hallways.
Mapping and Drawing Thermal Zones
Read boundaries off a floor plan, apply the combining rules, and zone split levels, voids and open plans on a house and a townhouse.
How Zone Boundaries Influence Performance
See how boundaries move heating and cooling loads and condensation risk, with two zoning strategies compared on one plan.
Improving Zoning Through Design and Assessment
Use doors, hallways, bedroom complexes and closable elements, keep modular junctions from merging zones, and document zoning so it survives certification.
Key takeaways
The zoning checks to run on your next plan before it goes into the model.
Final quiz and certificate
Ten questions on zone types, combining rules, boundaries and documentation. Pass and the certificate goes straight into your dashboard.
Intermediate. For people who already design, assess or certify houses on the NatHERS pathway. Covers zone types, the NatHERS Technical Note zoning and combining rules, complex layouts, how boundaries affect loads and condensation risk, modular construction, and documenting zoning for certification. It does not teach a particular software package or replace the NatHERS Technical Note.
Written for everyone who draws, models or checks the zone boundaries.
Architects
You set the layout, and where the doors and hallways fall decides how the assessor has to zone it.
Energy assessors
You zone every plan against the Technical Note, and open plans, voids and split levels leave room for argument.
Building designers
Your plans are the only zoning evidence the assessor has, so an unclear boundary becomes their assumption.
Builders
A door left out or a wall moved on site changes the zones the rating was built on.
Building surveyors
You check that the zoning in the model matches the plans and the house that gets built.
Where this hour goes on your record.
National Standard of Competency for Architects (NSCA 2021) performance criteria this course aligns with:
Assessing the project against codes and standards
Site and contextual design research
Energy and sustainability over the lifecycle
Integrating thermal and environmental systems
Performance standards for materials and systems
| If you are | How it is recorded |
|---|---|
| An energy assessor | 1 hour of technical CPD on thermal zoning and NatHERS modelling. Your certificate, the learning outcomes, the module outline and your quiz result are kept in your dashboard for your accrediting organisation’s records. |
| An architect | 1 formal CPD point. Aligned with NSCA 2021 performance criteria PC20, PC26, PC31, PC33 and PC45. |
| A building designer, builder or surveyor | 1 hour of CPD on thermal zoning in residential design and assessment, recorded on your certificate for your registration body or state scheme. |
CPD On Demand is not a registered training organisation and courses are not accredited by any registration body. Each course is aligned with the relevant competency frameworks and gives you the records to evidence it. CPD rules differ by registration body and state, so check with yours if you are unsure.
Pairs well with.
Getting NatHERS Right Before It Goes to the Assessor
The drawings and schedules an assessor needs, so the zones are shown rather than guessed.
Interpreting NatHERS Reports for Renovation Projects
Reading the zone by zone loads on a certificate and turning them into design advice.
The Breathable Wall: Understanding Condensation Risks in NCC 2025
The condensation risk that poorly placed zone boundaries and cold surfaces create inside the wall.
Before you enrol.
Zone the plan the way the house is lived in, and document it so the rating holds, in one self-paced hour.
$99, 60 minutes, certificate on completion.