Sustainable design -Digital design tools for Sustainability

Published: 11 December 2025
by David Ritter, Alan Tier and Joshua Stellini
ISSN: 2651-9828

This guidance note provides an overview of some useful sustainability analysis processes, digital design tools and software solutions which architects can use to inform more sustainable outcomes on their projects. The note guides readers through some basic principles around why and when to undertake analysis of environmental performance of projects and identifies the current tools available. It provides a high-level overview of analysis techniques, including climate characteristics, solar shadowing or heat gain, daylight and visual comfort, embodied carbon and operational energy calculation. It discusses how these are available to users within commonly used digital design software packages, outlining what each analysis is, how it works and why it is important to contemporary architectural practice. The guidance is intended to support the development of relevant capabilities within architectural practice, regardless of size or project sector focus. 

Note Summary
  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Summary of types of sustainability performance analysis
  4. List of tools
  5. Conclusion
  6. References