When do I need a BESS certificate?
The BESS system is designed to supplement the ‘Sustainable Design Assessment in the Planning Process’ within the planning permit stage of development. For many councils in Victoria, applicants for planning permits are required to submit information about how their proposed development intends to be sustainable and meets certain targets and benchmarks. This information can be supplied through an SDA (Sustainable Design Assessment) for small scale projects or an SMP (Sustainability Management Plan) used for large scale projects.
Through BESS the water and energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and overall environmental sustainability performance of a proposed new building or alteration are assessed. This tool was implemented to assist builders and developers, to ensure that they demonstrate that their development meets sustainability requirements as part of a planning permit application. These requirements involve meeting certain energy consumption targets to reduce the overall energy consumption of the state and the country.
