Glazed – Getting the Good Glass on Your Commercial Building Design

The energy efficiency of non-residential buildings is regulated through Section J of the National Construction Code (NCC). Section J2 of the code deals specifically with glazing and its potential for unnecessary heat gains or losses. So why a whole section for the glass, you ask?

Shops and showrooms often have large clear windows that make their products visible to potential customers. This can be great for business but problematic for energy efficiency as the glazed components of a building lose/gain heat 5-15 times faster than a typical wall.

The NCC recognises this, and compliance standards for glazed areas in shops and showrooms are lower than they are for houses and offices. However, a large amount of glass usually means a large amount of your time being spent working through the NCC’s glazing calculator to find out if your design is up to complies.

To save you time, Urban Digestor has created a Section J2 Glazing Quick Reference for Climate Zone 6 to help our Melbourne clients work out how likely their designs are to meet the NCC’s J2 requirements! All you have to do is work out the percentage of your façade that is glazed and refer to the correct orientation on our table. If the percentage calculated is equal to or below the percentage on the appropriate table category your project will comply. If your project fails to comply get in touch with us to see if it is worth pursuing a JV3 assessment.