NABERS
NABERS UK Rating System: Sustainable Building Performance Certification for Energy Efficiency
NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) is Australia's leading government-endorsed rating system designed to measure the real-world environmental performance of buildings. Launched in November 2020, NABERS UK is at the forefront of driving energy efficiency in commercial buildings. Administered by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), this groundbreaking scheme brings Australia’s successful NABERS programme to the United Kingdom.
NABERS UK is overseen by a dedicated steering committee comprising CIBSE, the Better Buildings Partnership, and NABERS, on behalf of the New South Wales Government, Australia. This collaborative approach ensures the scheme benefits from both international expertise and local market knowledge.
As a key partner in developing NABERS UK, the Better Buildings Partnership acts as the scheme ambassador, actively supporting its uptake and success across the UK commercial property sector.
At SOCOTEC, we’re proud to support NABERS UK in its mission to create a more sustainable built environment. Together, we’re building trust for a safer and sustainable world.
Talk to our experts
What is NABERS ?
- A standardised building rating system that evaluates the sustainability performance of commercial buildings.
- It provides a star rating out of 6 for buildings such as offices, hospitals, shopping centres, and hotels.
- NABERS measures actual operational data over a 12-month period, focusing on real-world performance rather than theoretical projections.
Why NABERS is needed?
- To provide an accurate reflection of a building's real-world environmental performance.
- To help identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement in building operations.
- To offer a reliable benchmark for comparing buildings across Australia.
- To encourage building owners and tenants to minimize their environmental impacts.
- To meet growing expectations for greener buildings and workplaces.
NABERS provides a rating for buildings efficiency across:
Energy
We look at how efficiently energy is used throughout the building—lighting, heating, cooling and more. It's not just about cutting costs; it’s about reducing carbon emissions and making buildings better for the planet.
Water
This focuses on how wisely a building uses water—from everyday consumption to leaks and losses. Efficient water management means less waste, lower bills, and a smaller environmental footprint.
Waste
We assess how waste is handled, sorted, and reduced. It’s about more than recycling—it’s making sure waste systems support sustainable operations across the whole building.
Indoor Environment
This measures how the building feels to the people inside—air quality, lighting, temperature and acoustics. Because a good building isn’t just efficient, it’s comfortable and supports wellbeing.
This helps building owners to understand their building’s performance versus comparable buildings in the same sector, providing a benchmark for progress.
Benefits of a star rating:
Compare
Provides a fair benchmark for a building’s energy and water efficiency, enabling comparison across the industry.
Validate and communicate
Provides cost-effective, high-trust, and independent validation of sustainability data, ensuring confidence in reporting it publicly and communicating it simply.
Track and improve
NABERS star ratings are an essential framework for annual reporting and sustainability strategies. With annual ratings, performance improvements and reduced energy and emissions can be demonstrated over time.
Competitive edge
Enables building owners to communicate simply and with confidence that their building has a lower environmental impact and running costs to prospective buyers, renters, procurement teams or hotel guests.
Advantages of NABERS
NABERS UK has two product offerings available in the UK for office buildings:
New Buildings
- Design for Performance to drive energy-efficient new buildings
- Sign an agreement
- Design, document and model
- Get an Independent Design Review (IDR) report
- Submit the IDR report
- Get a NABERS Energy rating once the project is in operation
Existing Buildings
NABERS UK Energy for Offices ratings to measure how energy-efficient existing buildings are. Energy for Offices measures the energy efficiency of an operational office building based on metered data and rates its performance.
Offices can be rated in three ways:
- Base Building: Buildings can be rated based on their central services like heating and cooling systems, lifts and lobby lighting
- Tenancy: Enables energy used by the tenant to be rated, typically for lighting and power, plus special tenancy requirements or local a/c
- Whole Building: Provides assessment of energy used by office tenancies and by Base Building services to lettable and common spaces
Want to find out more about how SOCOTEC can help you to improve your energy rating with NABERS ?
You might also be interested in:
ESOS Action Plan Update Reminder
2025 Compliance Guide to TM44 Air Conditioning Inspections & New Penalty Changes
Update on EPC Legislation
ESOS Phase 3 Update: Comply by 5 June - Rule Changes
Are You Ready for ESOS Phase 3? - Expert Webinar
Energy Performance Certificate software
SOCOTEC’s Energy Team Provides Critical Support to Two UK Power Stations during COVID-19 Pandemic