Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) has built upon its reputation for sustainable building design with the release of an upgrade to its <Virtual Environment> software. IES is known as a leading provider of integrated performance analysis software.

Version 5.9 — the new release of <Virtual Environment> has a number of improvements on past versions. The software's drawing capabilities have expanded and now include a 'Drag Face ability, partitioning functions, internal and external texture assignment options, increased mouse functions and auto 'highlight' abilities. <Virtual Environment>'s visualization capabilities have also been expanded from model integrity checks to camera path animations. The software also has a plethora of new reporting capabilities for both Apache, MacroFlo and MicroFlo, as well as technical capabilities for MicroFlo, ApacheSim and ApacheHVAC.

IES is based in Scotland, but also operates in Ireland, the U.S. and Australia. The company has been providing tools to help architects, engineers and facility managers to create healthier and more energy efficient buildings since 1994. Earlier this year, IES released VE-Ware, a free software download that allows building industry professionals to see how the projected performance of their designs measures up against green building benchmarks. VE-Ware has, however, only a fraction of the capabilities of <Virtual Environment>.

Image — IES