Building for the future: Designing today’s buildings for tomorrow’s climate

Australia’s buildings are designed and operated based on weather assumptions from the past, but what happens when those assumptions no longer hold? The NESP Climate Systems Hub Building for the Future project is tackling this challenge head-on, developing new future climate files that allow building simulation tools to model how structures will perform under the likely conditions of coming decades, including under extreme conditions such as heatwaves. This will help us to understand the implications of our future climate for building thermal comfort, energy use and peak demand. It represents a significant shift for the Australian building simulation industry, paving the way for more climate-resilient, efficient and future-ready design.

This panel discussion bringing together researchers and practitioners who have been directly involved in co-designing, co-developing and testing these prototype files.

You’ll hear about the motivations underlying the project, some of the challenges of co-design, and the learnings from this work, both for the scientists and for the practitioners. It’s a rare opportunity to hear how climate science is being translated into practical tools for building designers, building simulation modellers, assessors and policy-makers.

This work is complex problem solving: a chance to rethink how we plan for a changing climate and ensure Australia’s buildings are fit for the future.