This interactive map presents climate-related data to support the National Construction Code (NCC). The map is useful for builders, designers, certifiers, regulators and other industry professionals. It will help practitioners see how climate factors influence the building requirements outlined in the NCC.
The map includes dynamic layers and static reference maps. These show the NCC climate zones, relative humidity patterns and alpine areas.
The map is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). To view a copy of this license, visit the Creative Commons website.
The following information provides an overview of the map's data.
NCC climate zones
Australia's diverse climate results in varying heating and cooling needs across regions. To account for these differences, the NCC energy efficiency Deemed-to-Satisfy (DTS) Provisions vary from location to location. For simplicity, locations with similar climates have been combined into 8 climate zones.
The following provides a brief description of each NCC climate zone:
- Climate zone 1 - high humidity summer, warm winter
- Climate zone 2 - warm humid summer, mild winter
- Climate zone 3 - hot dry summer, warm winter
- Climate zone 4 - hot dry summer, cool winter
- Climate zone 5 - warm temperate
- Climate zone 6 - mild temperate
- Climate zone 7 - cool temperate
- Climate zone 8 - alpine
The NCC's 8 climate zones shown on the map were created using Bureau of Meteorology climatic data. Two supplementary zones have been added to accommodate an additional temperature zone and alpine area.
You can download the climate zone map from data.gov.au.
Relative humidity
These layers show the average relative humidity for January and July, based on data collected from 1976 to 2005. You can learn more how relative humidity is calculated on the Bureau of Meteorology website.
Alpine areas
This layer identifies alpine regions based on elevation thresholds used in building and planning standards.
- 1200 m in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.
- 900 m in Tasmania.
This layer uses the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) elevation dataset, which incorporates GEBCO's global elevation models. You can learn more on the Australian Antarctic Data Centre's website.