Hebel vs Masterwall: the setout drawings installers need
Two popular lightweight facade systems, two different materials, two different sets of rules. Conflating them fails scrutiny with a facade engineer — and costs money on site.
They are not the same material
CSR Hebel is autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC): a steam-cured, lightweight masonry panel, relatively heavy, fixed to a steel or timber frame on top-hat battens, with its own modular rules for panel widths and joints. Masterwall is an expanded polystyrene (EPS) rendered panel system: light, fixed directly or on cavity battens to the frame, with different panel logic, fixings and — critically — a different fire classification. The two systems are not interchangeable, and a detail drawn for one is wrong for the other.
Fire and building class
EPS carries NCC C2D10 and AS 5113 exposure on Class 2–9 Type A and B construction, which is why we scope EPS setout work to Class 1 and low-rise buildings. AAC systems are detailed across classes to the manufacturer's tested scope. AS 5113 facade assessments and fire-engineering performance solutions are never prepared offshore and never by a setout drafter; they belong to a fire engineer.
What the manufacturers give you — and what they do not
Both manufacturers publish good generic system manuals and explicitly push project-specific detailing onto "the architectural designer and engineering parties". Neither offers a CAD or Revit detail library for your project, or a project setout service. That gap is what a setout pack fills.
What a setout pack must include
| Element | Hebel (AAC) | Masterwall (EPS) |
|---|---|---|
| Panel setout | To Hebel's modular rules — minimum panel widths, 300 mm multiples above windows, 600 mm multiples between penetrations — to minimise site cuts | To Masterwall's sheet module and joint rules, with render control joints set out from the panel layout |
| Elevations with panel schedule and cut list | Panel by panel, driving procurement and reducing waste | Sheet by sheet, with cavity batten setout where used |
| Fixing details | Top-hat battens and fixings coordinated to the actual stud frame — AS/NZS 4600 framing, H/360 deflection, AS/NZS 1170.2 wind | Fixings and battens to the frame as detailed; cavity system where NCC 2025 requires it |
| Junction details | Visible and hidden slab edges, heads, jambs and sills, balconies, control joints, vertical joints | The same set, drawn to the EPS system's tested details |
| Compliance evidence sheet | CodeMark reference, FRL, acoustic Rw and Rw+Ctr, NCC Section J, BAL rating | CodeMark reference, fire classification and scope limits, Section J, BAL |
Why NCC 2025 changes the drawing in Victoria
Victoria adopted NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, a year ahead of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Among the changes, direct-fix cladding is out of the deemed-to-satisfy pathway in climate zones 6–8 — which covers all of Victoria. Cavity and drainage detailing is now the default, and it has to be drawn: batten setout, drainage paths, flashings at heads and sills, and the slab-edge detail that keeps the cavity open. An installer working from a pre-2026 detail library is drawing the wrong thing.
What it is worth
A mid-rise setout pack takes twenty to sixty hours to produce from the manufacturer's prescriptive standards. Against that: fewer site cuts, a procurement list that matches the elevation, fewer certifier questions, and junctions that were coordinated to the frame instead of discovered on the scaffold. The NexGenus Cladding Setout Pack is sold at a fixed fee for exactly this reason.
Sources: CSR Hebel and Masterwall published system manuals and installer guides; NCC 2025 as adopted in Victoria 1 May 2026; AS 5113; AS/NZS 4600; AS/NZS 1170.2.
Start with a pilot, not a headcount.
One cladding setout pack, one tender take-off, or twenty wall panel drawings. Fixed fee, a named Australian reviewer, and a first-pass-yield number you can check. Convert to a dedicated seat when the work proves itself.