Case Study from: NAS Hydraulics
Learn how NAS Hydraulics sped up aged-care system design, making the process 50% faster with h2x.
Name: Nick Soden
Role: Director
Company: NAS Hydraulics
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Results at a glance:
50% faster design workflow after adopting h2x
Fewer dead leg risks with fast analysis and instant recalculation on change
Review-ready outputs with clear sizing, pressure drops, velocities, and warnings
See how this was done:
The Background
HammondCare Scone is a purpose-built residential aged-care community serving the Hunter Valley. The homes prioritise dignity and independence with evidence-based features, such as family-style kitchens, easy outdoor access, and calm, domestic layouts that support everyday living.
Designing building services for this environment demanded dependable hot and cold water distribution with minimal risk from stagnation, simple maintenance, and clear documentation for facility teams. NAS Hydraulics selected h2x to model options quickly and keep calculations transparent from first sketch to issue.
The Challenge
Aged-care projects bring unique network considerations: long runs between kitchens, ensuites, and staff areas, frequent branch changes, and a strong need to reduce dead legs. Traditional spreadsheet workflows slow iteration, making it harder to test alternatives quickly and ensure each change propagates through pressures, velocities, and pipe sizes.
The team also needed a clean way to demonstrate compliance during review. Re-calculating after every tweak can stall progress and introduce errors, especially when multiple rooms change at once.
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The Solution
NAS Hydraulics modelled the system in h2x, using real-time recalculation to evaluate pipe sizes and identify potential dead legs across the plan. The software handled the "heavy lifting" automatically, so engineers could focus on decisions rather than re-keying data. As Nick Soden says: "The results provided are outstanding... I could quickly analyse dead legs and pipe sizes in every design area and make the required modifications and improvements."
Because h2x updates results instantly, option testing became practical: branch adjustments, fixture moves, or load changes could be assessed in seconds. That immediacy removed the need for constant manual recomputation and kept the design moving. "By using h2x, I was able to do this very quickly without having to constantly recalculate, the software does that tedious part for you."
The Results
The workflow proved decisively faster. After onboarding, NAS Hydraulics estimates the process is about 50% quicker than traditional methods, with better visibility into the knock-on effects of each change. Faster iteration also improved quality, as dead leg risks and sizing issues were identified and corrected earlier.
Clear and well-documented outputs simplified reviews and handover. With calculations, pipe sizes, and warnings in one place, stakeholders could trace decisions and sign off with confidence, supporting HammondCare Scone's focus on safe, reliable service for residents.
h2x: All-In-One Tool for Calculating, Designing, Estimating, and Paperwork
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