NCC Climate Zone Map Australia Find your zone.

How to use the NCC climate zone map

1. Search for the property's street address in the map above.
2. Check that the selected location matches your building site.
3. Read the climate zone number and match it to the zone descriptions.
4. Keep the result with your project records for the design and assessment team.

Use the site location when checking a property in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory or the ACT. A state or a broad regional description alone is not enough to identify a property's NCC climate zone.

How your climate zone can guide passive design principles

Use your climate zone to establish the design priorities: keeping heat out, retaining warmth, or balancing both across the seasons. It helps frame early conversations about the floor plan and building fabric before individual products are selected. Local conditions and how the building will be used then refine those priorities.

• Zones 1 and 2 — hot and warm humid climates: prioritise shade and opportunities for comfortable air movement. Consider how the building will operate during humid weather and when air conditioning is running.
• Zone 3 — hot dry summers, warm winters: focus on reducing daytime heat gain. Where nights are cooler, consider how stored heat can be released overnight.
• Zones 4, 5 and 6 — seasonal heating and cooling: balance summer protection with useful winter sunshine. Zone 4's dry summers and cool winters need different detailing from a milder coastal location.
• Zones 7 and 8 — cool temperate and alpine climates: prioritise retaining warmth while still providing ventilation and managing summer overheating.

Orientation, room layout and shading

In climates that benefit from winter heating, consider locating living areas and selected windows to receive northern winter sun. Size shading to limit unwanted summer sun while preserving that winter access. In hot humid locations, shade and access to cooling breezes may be stronger drivers of the layout.

Review each elevation separately. Low morning and afternoon sun can make east- and west-facing glazing harder to shade with eaves alone. External blinds, screens or a change to window size may help. Check neighbouring buildings and landscaping too: a window drawn facing north may receive little winter sun if it is shaded by the building next door.

Choosing windows and insulation together

Window area, orientation, shading and glazing performance work together. A lower window U-value reduces heat transfer, while the solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) describes how much solar heat passes through the window. Where cooling dominates, limiting solar gain can be valuable. Where winter sun is useful, the balance may differ between elevations.

Review the roof, walls, floors and windows as a complete building envelope. Insulation continuity and careful detailing help the specified materials perform as intended. For example, increasing roof insulation does not resolve overheating caused by a large, unshaded west-facing window. Test those design choices together before settling on the specification.

Ventilation that responds to the weather

Plan a usable airflow path through rooms, including where air can enter and leave. Openable windows can support cooling when outdoor conditions are favourable, but opening the building during very hot or humid weather may increase cooling demand. Consider security, noise and whether occupants can realistically use the openings.

In cooler weather, reducing uncontrolled draughts helps retain warmth. Pair that airtightness with planned fresh-air ventilation and extraction from moisture-producing rooms. The aim is to give occupants control over ventilation as conditions change.

Thermal mass and material selection

Concrete, brick and other dense materials can store heat and release it later. This thermal mass can help moderate temperature swings when it is placed and managed well. In a location with cool nights, night ventilation may help remove the heat stored during the day. If nights stay warm, that same stored heat can prolong discomfort.

In a cooler climate, internal thermal mass receiving winter sun can help carry warmth into the evening. Its usefulness depends on solar access, insulation, floor coverings and how spaces are heated or cooled. Choose materials as part of the whole design rather than assuming heavier construction will always perform better.

Turn the climate zone into a design brief

After finding your zone, mark up the concept plans with the design questions it raises. Which rooms need summer shade? Which windows could admit useful winter sun? Where will fresh air enter and leave? Which spaces will people occupy in the afternoon and evening? Comparing these options early makes the map result useful to the actual layout and construction choices.

For a home, a NatHERS assessment can help compare proposed designs. For commercial projects, discuss the building use, glazing and fabric with your Section J assessment team. Use the climate zone as the starting context, then refine the design for the site and project requirements.

How climate affects condensation in buildings

Moisture control deserves attention alongside energy efficiency. Showers, cooking and laundry add moisture to indoor air. If that moisture reaches colder parts of a wall or roof and cannot dry out, condensation may accumulate within the construction. The choice and position of membranes, insulation and ventilation paths all matter.

The earlier NCC 2022 changes addressed wall material vapour permeance, exhaust discharge and roof space ventilation, with some provisions varying by climate zone. For a new project, check the NCC edition and provisions that apply to the building, then coordinate the wall and roof details with the designer or assessor.

Looking for a wind zone map of Australia?

Climate zones and wind regions describe different site conditions. NCC climate zones support thermal design and energy efficiency; wind regions are used when assessing wind actions on buildings. A climate zone result cannot tell you the site's wind classification.

Use our wind region map of Australia to look up the wind region for your address. A regional map is one input to a wind assessment: terrain, shielding and topography also matter when determining a site's wind classification. Our wind region guide explains how these factors fit into the assessment.