Impacts of COVID-19 on NABERS ratings

The measures enacted to fight COVID-19 as well as the change in behaviour patterns for Australians have resulted in changes to the way many buildings are used. This has impacted their energy use, which in turn impacts NABERS rating results. For many buildings, this has resulted in a major drop in occupancy due to social distancing measures and working from home arrangements. Nevertheless, while occupancy has decreased, many buildings are still operational, consuming energy and water, and generating waste. NABERS rating tools were designed to compare buildings in operation, where spaces generally fit into two clear categories, either occupied or vacant. A scenario where the occupied spaces in most buildings operate at minimal occupancy over an extended period of time had not been considered by NABERS prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data gallery has been published to allow users to obtain information relevant to their specific rating type. All the data is being made available as certifications are validated. Buildings are certified under NABERS every day, and data from the most recent months will initially be based on a smaller number of buildings than previous months. These recent figures will be refined and may change as more buildings are certified, and as this dashboard is updated to reflect that over time. When analysing these figures, it is important that users consider the number of buildings captured on these graphs, to ensure conclusions made are statistically representative.

You can find our news article exploring the impact of lower occupancy in office buildings and what this means for energy, water, and waste efficiency into the future here.

Statistics on COVID-19 impact

Last update: 29 April 2021

The following average improvements exclude the expected annual improvement seen in NABERS ratings:

- NABERS Energy for Offices ratings: an increase of 0.3 star over 10 to 12 months

- NABERS Water for Offices ratings: an increase of 1.18 stars over 10 to 12 months

- NABERS Indoor Environment for Offices ratings: an increase of 0.41 star over 10 to 12 months

- NABERS Waste for Offices ratings: a decrease of 0.09 star over 10 to 12 months

- NABERS Energy for Shopping Centres ratings: an increase of 0.32 star over 10 to 12 months

- NABERS Water for Shopping Centres ratings: an increase of 0.57 star over 10 to 12 months

What are the key impacts on other sectors?

Office tenancies

Office tenancy ratings are difficult to assess for impact due to their changeable nature year-to-year compared with other rating types. Tenants are more likely to either change in size or move in and out of their spaces, and also many do not follow an annual rating cycle.

Hotels, Hospitals, Data Centres and Apartment Buildings

There are too few ratings that include the COVID-19 affected data for other sectors for us to reliably ascertain the exact change in star rating for Energy and Water. We will be updating these statistics once more data is available.

Validity of NABERS ratings

NABERS ratings are still valid, even with the impacts of COVID-19. NABERS ratings can still be reliably used in the following ways:

Comparison of year on year performance, using the average change in ratings provided in the data gallery
Comparison of buildings within a portfolio where ratings contain COVID-19 impact data.

We suggest that building owners conduct a thorough analysis of their month-on-month energy and water usage to delve into their occupancy or footfall versus energy or water usage, in order to understand areas for improvement.

Many NABERS Assessor can help identify areas for improvement for your specific buildings.

Background: How has NABERS responded?

In April 2020 NABERS released a consultation paper proposing short- and long-term solutions for NABERS ratings, summarised below.

No changes to NABERS benchmarks

NABERS proposed a number of ways the benchmarks could be amended to accommodate for significant changes in occupancy in buildings. NABERS received strong feedback from stakeholders that there should be no changes made to the benchmarks because:

It would be too difficult or impossible to determine occupancy levels accurately
There was insufficient data to develop an adjustment
Buildings were required to continue operating despite low levels of occupancy
All buildings would be impacted so it would be simple to explain the change in ratings.

Changes to the NABERS Rules

NABERS also proposed a number of ways the Rules could be amended to accommodate the impacts of the pandemic. Many of these have been implemented and since modified and improved since March 2020. A full list of these changes can be found here.

Key changes included:

Alternatives to site visits
How to determine hours of operation and numbers of computers for offices
How to determine the number of food court seats and tenant vacancies for shopping centres
How to conduct spot measurements for Indoor Environment ratings
How and when to conduct contamination audits for Waste ratings.

We also published the document Commitment Agreements during COVID-19 - Guidance Document to assist stakeholders during this time.

Next steps for NABERS

To better understand how we can continue support stakeholders, the CBD Program and NABERS released the Future of COVID-19 Rulings – Joint Consultation paper in February 2021

This Paper sought feedback from stakeholders on a series of questions covering topics including:

Extension of existing COVID-19 rulings
Future changes to the COVID-19 rulings
How and when the COVID-19 rulings should be phased out
Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on NABERS ratings
Post-COVID-19 industry trends

Following the consultation, it was concluded that the COVID-19 Ruling expiry date be extended to 31 August 2021.

NABERS released a minor update (v4.2) to the document Managing Impact of COVID-19 on NABERS Ratings.

Please note: The only change in this minor update is the extension of the 'Ruling Expiry Date' to 31 August 2021.