Network of building design tools

Data, automation, and collaborative tools to design better buildings.

Climate Change Mitigation Advancing Net Zero

Problem Addressed

The process of analysing buildings, collaborating with project teams and creating diagrams is lengthy and time-consuming.

Solution overview

cove.tool

cove.tool breaks down barriers in the design and construction cycle, creating a new network of shared information, interoperability, and accountability across projects and teams. As the first cloud-based network of building design tools to create interconnectivity between all teams working in the design and pre-construction cycle, cove.tool reduces risk, boosts transparency, and maximises productivity across the board.

analysis.tool

Using machine learning to select the lowest cost and highest performing design options for a project, analysis.tool is an easy-to-use building performance analysis and energy modelling platform designed to help teams optimise building projects for energy, carbon, and cost.

analysis.tool also includes the Embodied Carbon Feature, which creates simple, automated embodied carbon estimates for a building design project, allowing teams to compare embodied carbon to operational carbon for a complete analysis of a building’s carbon impact through the entire lifespan.

Add your project’s exact location when designing in analysis.tool and the tool will automatically populate the project with local weather data, regionally adopted energy code information, localised cost, regional carbon emission factors (i.e., electricity usage of the project and a constant value against gas usage), and more.

For the UK, cove.tool aligns to utilise the UK National Calculation Methodology automatically. Users can override the automatic configuration and change the standards to adhere to a different energy code or edit the baseline values.

The tool helps teams deliver projects on schedule while maintaining code compliance with automated inputs and even identifying design alternatives to make buildings high-performance while saving on construction costs.

According to cove.tool, using the analysis.tool leads to financial savings for projects:

Reduce analysis time by 66%
Reduce construction cost by 3%
Increase profits by 6%

Company name

Cove.tool

UK availability

Yes

Date added

Jun, 2023

Case study

Emory University Campus Life Center

At 117,000 sq.ft., the Campus Life Center on the Emory University campus caters the growing space demands, allows flexibility and efficient dining services, technology and infrastructure upgrades, and more room for student organisations and gathering space. With the University’s commitment to sustainability, the Campus Life Center has high performance targets.

cove.tool was used on the project to conduct climate analysis, energy analysis, daylight and glare analysis, façade studies, water use analysis and cost vs energy optimisation.

Savings on the project by using cove.tool:

Cost optimisation: saved $1M in construction cost
Energy saving: 40% energy savings and LEED Platinum
Integrative automated workflow: 240 hours saved from design revisions.

Jackola Engineering and Architecture Firm

For years, Jackola relied on the industry-standard HVAC modeling program for load calculations and mechanical design. However, with such a crucial part of its day-to-day operations on the brink of being phased out, the team at Jackola moved quickly to find a new solution for every aspect of building design and analysis.

Using analysis.tool for modeling information to derive more accurate calculations early on, Jackola was able to test various materials and assess their energy-saving capabilities, optimising the project’s wall assembly — unlocking savings of nearly $20,000 in annual operating cost on one project. Overall, they were able to reduce all their projects’ energy use by 30%, which translated into significant savings across the board.

analysis.tool (and cove.tool’s other solutions – loadmodeling.tool and drawing.tool) has proven to be particularly indispensable to Jackola, allowing the team to quickly and efficiently explore the benefits of sustainable design interventions for buildings at scale.

Read more about Jackola’s success here.

66 %

3 %

6 %

This page presents data, evidence, and solutions that are provided by our partners and members and should therefore not be attributed to UKGBC. While we showcase these solutions for inspiration, to build consensus, and create momentum for climate action, UKGBC does not offer commercial endorsement of individual solutions. If you would like to quote something from this page, or more information, please contact our Communications team at media@ukgbc.org.