Legislative Region Templates - Standard Insulation

Standard insulation tab on Legislative Region Templates Dialog.

Data on this tab specifies 4 standard insulation levels which apply to the region:

• Uninsulated - typical U-values for buildings in the region which are not insulated. In general the same standard is applied for all regions, though the capacity exists to apply different standards.
• Typical - Average (estimated) insulation standards for real buildings in the region. This data is used by default to define default construction and glazing performance settings when adding a new building.
• Mandatory energy code - Defines the maximum U-values allowed in the energy code/building regulations in force in the region.
• Best practice - Defines the U-values to be expected in a state-of-the-art building in the region. In general the same standard is applied for all regions, though the capacity exists to apply different standards.

The energy code templates referenced here indicate the required maximum U-values.

Regions, Energy codes, Construction templates and Constructions - How they Interact

The way the system works is explained below.

1. When a project is first created, DesignBuilder uses the 4 different standards of insulation for the Region associated with the Location selected on the New site dialog to create the corresponding 12 x system Constructions and 12 x "Early Design" system Construction templates.
2. Because the 12 x "Early Design" Constructions are set up at the point the project is created, the easiest way to fully control the U-values that will be applied to the corresponding library Constructions, is to create appropriate library components and templates before the file is created:
   
   
   1. Location template,
   2. Region, and,
   3. Energy code with the required levels of insulation defined.
   
   

   The Region should reference the new Energy codes on the Standard insulation tab and the Location template should reference the new Region on the Location tab. Select your custom Location template on the New site dialog.

3. The 12 constructions and templates referred to above cover the 4 insulation standards defined by the Energy codes associated with the region multiplied by 3 different levels of thermal mass. The "Early Design" system construction templates for the England and Wales region are illustrated in the screenshot below.
   
   
   
   
4. When adding a new building you can select the construction, glazing, lighting templates to be applied as default settings for the new building. The default construction template will be the Reference template for the Region's energy code but this and the other settings will typically be overriden at some stage in the model development process to provide project-specific settings. However for early stage analysis you may wish to start your modelling process right away based on the default constructions etc and refine the detail at a later stage.
5. There are 2 alternative ways to select/load construction templates depending on the Construction and glazing data model option selection. When the (default) General option is selected then the above 12 construction templates can be loaded from a normal browse list, or any other construction template can be loaded. Or, when the Pre-design option is selected, the above 12 construction templates can be loaded by making appropriate settings on the Insulation and Thermal mass sliders. In this case only the 12 "Early Design" construction templates are available for selection (via the 2 sliders).