Overview of computational tools for

building regulation compliance

Ya Liu

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Approved software for compliance
• To calculate the energy performance of buildings and
demonstrate compliance with the Building Regulations,
only software that has been approved by the Department
for Communities and Local Government (CLG) can be
used.
Domestic: SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) 2005

Non-domestic:
SBEM (Simplified Building Energy Model)

Accredited dynamic simulation software

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk
Approved software for compliance
• For non-domestic buildings
Approved interfaces
iSBEM (v2.0.c)
Compliance
Carbon Checker (v1.2) Calculation engine
Part L2 (England & Wales)
Hevacomp (v23.0) SBEM
Section6 (Scotland)
IES VE (v5.8.1)
Designbuilder (v1.4.0)
Part F2 (Northern Ireland)

DigitalEnergy (v1.0.12)
ECAT (v6.0)

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Approved software for compliance
• For non-domestic buildings
Accredited dynamic simulation software

EDSL TAS (v 9.0.9) IES VE (v 5.8) Hevacomp (design simulation v2)

TAS engine ApacheSim EnergyPlus engine

Dynamic simulation for compliance with Building Regulations:

Part L2 (England & Wales)
Section6 (Scotland)

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Approved software for compliance
• For domestic buildings
SAP 2005
Scope for building regulations
Part L1 (England &Wales)
Approved interfaces Compliance
Section 6 (Scotland)
EES SAP Calculator v013
Part F1 (Northern Ireland)
NHER plan Assessor v3.0
SuperHeat v6.20
JPA Designer v4.02
SAPPER v7.2
Knauf Insulation SAP2005
Calculator v 2.0

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Approved software for compliance
• For domestic buildings
Approved interfaces Scope for building regulations
Thermica v1.0 Part L1 (England &Wales)
Part F1 (Northern Ireland)

Part L1 (England &Wales)

SAP Calculator v3.1
Section6 (Scotland)

Hevacomp SAP 2005 v23.0

IES VE v 5.6 Part L1 (England &Wales)
MAXIM5 v1.1
BuildDesk v1.3
Lifespan SAP2005
Cymap 2008

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
1. Calculation method
Quasi-steady state calculation based on
SBEM monthly energy balance to obtain annual
energy results (Microsoft Access application)
IES Dynamic building simulation with a user-
TAS specified time step (down to 1 minute as
Hevacomp needed)

Note: IES – IES VE v5.8; TAS – EDSL TAS v9.0.9;

Hevacomp – Hevacomp Design Simulation v2

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
2. Climate data
Monthly climate data incorporated in the
SBEM
software covering 14 UK cities
CIBSE Test Reference Year (TRY) climate
IES data for criterion 1 (CO2 emission) and CIBSE
TAS Design Summer Year (DSY) climate data for
Hevacomp criterion 3 of Part L2 (overheating risk).

These sets of hourly historical weather data

need to be licensed from CIBSE

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
3. Geometry
No graphic approach in iSBEM. Enter dimensions
SBEM of building zones in the interface. Can use 3rd party
to get graphical inputs to SBEM calculations.
3D graphics based geometry input:
• drawing 3D model directly
IES • importing a CAD plan as a template for drawing
TAS walls, creating windows and doors.
Hevacomp
IES CAD import: DXF, gbXML and Revit connection
TAS CAD import: DWG
Hevacomp CAD import: DXF

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
4. Orientation

8 orientations: north, south, east, west,

SBEM
northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast.

IES
TAS
Unlimited orientations
Hevacomp

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
5. Views of buildings
No images of actual building and notional building
SBEM in iSBEM. Can view buildings through 3rd party
Interfaces
TAS
Views of actual building are available.
Hevacomp
Views of both actual and notional buildings are
available.
Actual building notional building
IES

(Note: Pictures are provided by IES)

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
6. Air infiltration rate

No input for air infiltration rate. Instead, building air

SBEM permeability (m3/hr/m2 at 50 Pa) is introduced to
calculate air infiltration rate.
Infiltration rate can be set up for each zone, which
IES
is used for simulation. Building air permeability is
TAS
only used for BRUKL checking. Conversion from
Hevacomp
air permeability to infiltration rate can be
calculated using CIBSE Guide method.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
7. Solar shading
External shading:
• Movable solar protection shading
system is only considered for calculation.
SBEM • No consideration of the shading effect from ground, trees, other buildings
and building itself (L-shape)
• transmission factor = partial shading correction factor for overhangs X partial
shading correction factor for fins
Internal shading: Mainly curtains and blinds
External shading: External shading devices/surrounding buildings or
TAS obstructions can be set up for shading calculation based on each time step
of the simulation.
Shading devices can be controlled based on internal air temperatures and
occupancy schedules.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
7. Solar shading
Local shading devices: balcony, overhang and fin which can
either be defined or be modelled as obstructions.
Internal shading devices: curtains and blinds
External shading devices: shutter and Louvre which can
either be defined or be modelled as obstructions.
IES

Both internal and external shading devices can be controlled based

on internal air temperature and occupancy schedules.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
7. Solar shading

Internal shading: curtains and blinds

External shading:
• external shading devices, such as overhangs, fins and shutters
etc can either be defined through its shading device library or be
Hevacomp modelled as part of construction.
• Surrounding buildings can be modelled as obstructions.
Both internal and external shading devices can be controlled
based on internal air temperature and occupancy schedules.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
8. Natural ventilation
Assumed value based on standard occupancy for each
SBEM
zone.
Natural ventilation can be calculated in two ways:
• Additional Free Cooling Flow Capacity
It indicates the maximum intake of outside air that is available for
free cooling, whose value represents the additional outside air
IES
intake over and above the minimum ventilation level.
• MacroFlo link
Control window openings according to internal air temperatures
and occupancy profiles

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
8. Natural ventilation
Natural ventilation can be modelled by opening
windows/vents to control internal air temperatures. It
TAS has wind and stack driven bulk air flow simulation
integrated with the building simulation.

Additionally, it can simulate mixed-mode ventilation.

Natural ventilation is modelled by using EnergyPlus
Hevacomp
multi-zone air flow model. Mixed-mode operations can
be simulated.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
9. Avoidance of summer overheating (criterion 3 of Part L2
for England & Wales)

Not available. Use additional software or other

SBEM
methods e.g. CIBSE TM37
IES
TAS Can be done by predicting the number of
Hevacomp hours that exceed targets.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
10. Daylighting
L solar (light transmittance) is used for daylighting
calculations.
SBEM L solar = f (T solar, reduction factor)
Window shading system
Thermal transmittance
(glass type)

Do daylight simulation to obtain daylight factors.

IES With these daylight factors daylight available in the
TAS zones for each hour of the year will be calculated,
Hevacomp which will then be used with a range of switching
and dimming controls to determine lighting energy
use for each hour.
Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk
Main differences between approved software
11. Lighting and lighting control

A dedicated lighting dialogue allows for a range

SBEM of lighting control options to be specified at a
basic level.
Lighting is handled differently due to the nature
IES
of dynamic thermal simulation. Sensors can be
TAS
placed in zones and a wide range of switching
Hevacomp
and dimming controls allow complex controls to
be modelled at each time step of the simulation.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
12. Plant system
• Pre-defined types of plant
system
• Editable plant performance
parameters
e.g. seasonal heating/cooling energy
efficiencies, heat recovery efficiency
SBEM • Plant performance is calculated
based on total annual heating and cooling loads and
plant performance parameters, such as Heating
Seasonal Coefficient of Performance (SCoP),
Seasonal System Energy Efficiency Ratio for cooling
(SSEER) and auxiliary energy efficiency.
Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk
Main differences between approved software
12. Plant system
• Similar pre-defined types of plant system as those in
SBEM

IES
• More editable plant performance parameters, e.g.
auxiliary energy efficiency, heating/cooling delivery
efficiencies, heat rejection pump & fan power
• No dynamic modelling of plant components involved.
TAS
• Individual plant components system can be set up.
• Hourly dynamic plant simulation is carried out.
Hevacomp
• Individual plant components system can be set up.
• Plant system is dynamically modelled using plant part
load efficiency curves.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
13. Renewable technologies
• Wind generators
Terrain type, diameter, hub height and power and number

SBEM
• Solar panels
Area, orientation, inclination and number
• PV (Photovoltaic)
Type, area, orientation, inclination and number
•Solar panels
Solar conversion data, inclination, parasitic power, manifold
to air temperature difference, 3D model
TAS
• PV (Photovoltaic)
Power generation curves, power reduction, panel aging,
inverter efficiency, 3D model

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

Main differences between approved software
13. Renewable technologies
• Wind generators
Set up your own power curve
• Solar panels
Area, Azimuth, tilt, shading factor, degradation factor, conversion
efficiency at ambient temperature, flow rate, pump power, heat
IES
exchanger effectiveness, first/second order heat loss coefficients
and solar panel storage cylinder
• PV (Photovoltaic)
Type, degradation factor, shading factor, electrical conversion
Efficiency and performance parameters from PV array type

Hevacomp • Wind generators • Solar panels • PV (Photovoltaic)

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

How do results from different tools compare?
Identical building model
• CIBSE TM33 Tests –
standard tests for the
assessment of building
SBEM Accredited dynamic tools services design software

• EN ISO 13791 – Thermal

performance of buildings
IES TAS Hevacomp (General criteria and
validation procedure)

Compliance checking • NCM (National Calculation

Method)

Results ?

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

How do results from different tools compare?
Guidance stated in NCM:
“ Certain advanced building features are currently not well represented in SBEM. It is difficult to give
absolute rules about when SBEM can and cannot be used, but as broad guidance, the results of using SBEM
are likely to be less robust if the building and its systems have features that are
• not already included in iSBEM (or for which acceptable approximations have not been demonstrated)
• have properties that vary non-linearly over periods of the order of an hour
In such cases, an accredited simulation tool will need to be used to demonstrate compliance.

The following are building features that iSBEM /SBEM does not represent very well at present. If these are
significant in respect of the performance of the proposed building, then an alternative approved tool should
be used.
• Night ventilation strategy • Automatic blind control
• Ventilation with enhanced thermal –coupling to structure
• Demand-controlled ventilation • Variable speed pumping
• Light transfer between highly glazed internal spaces such as atria or lightwells ”

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk

 Thanks for your attention.

Scottish Energy Systems Group www.sesg.strath.ac.uk