# New Project
From the Projects page, select 'New Project'.
Enter basic site and location details to create the project. You can then set up buildings, dwellings and non-residential spaces, as applicable.
# Lookup Address
BESS uses Google Maps to locate your site. If you lookup and select a site here, the address and council fields below will be automatically populated.
If you cannot lookup your address, select the nearest address then manually amend the street address, suburb, and postcode in the fields below.
# Project Name
Give your project a name. This could be the project address, or another name that describes the development. The project name appears on the BESS report.
If/when you create additional versions of a project, each of these can be given a unique 'version name'. Version names do not appear on the BESS report. The 'version name' field becomes available when there is more than one version of a project.
# Location Details
# Council
This is populated from the lookup address, or can be entered manually.
Only BESS subscriber councils (opens new window) are listed. Projects can only be created in BESS subscriber municipalities.
# Street Address, Suburb, State and Postcode
These are populated from the lookup address, or can be entered manually.
# Site Details
# Site Type
To determine your site type, consider the following:
| Site Type | Definition |
|---|---|
| Single dwelling | A new house (Class 1) |
| Multi dwelling (dual occupancy, townhouse, villa unit etc) | A residential development with more than one new dwelling on the site, but no shared facilities (e.g. common gardens, pool, gym etc) (Class 1) |
| Multi-unit development (apartment building) | A residential development with more than one new dwelling and with shared access / common areas and facilities (Class 2) |
| Non-residential development | Any commercial or industrial building (see below for further building classifications) |
| Mixed use development | A development with a combination of dwellings and non-residential spaces |
# Is this a Future Homes Design?
Apartment developments only. Future Homes is a Victorian Government program where designs for three-storey exemplar apartment buildings are available for purchase. See the Future Homes (opens new window) website for further information about the designs, where they can be built and how they can be adapted.
# Site Area
This is the land area, in square metres.
# Planning Number
This is the planning application / development application number, if known. If not yet known, this field can be left blank.
Once you have completed all required fields, select 'Create Project'.
# Project Profile
This page includes the location and site information you entered to create the project, plus basic details about buildings, dwellings, and non-residential spaces.
The buildings, dwellings and non-residential spaces must be created for the BESS pathways, questions and credits to be configured for your project.
# Buildings
Apartment developments, non-residential and mixed-use developments only.
For apartment buildings, non-residential developments, and mixed-use developments, BESS supports the profiling of ‘buildings’. This is to allow data entry on a per-building basis in some parts of BESS, such as for energy modelling.
Enter the height and footprint of each building in the development.
Where there is one building, dwellings and non-residential spaces will be automatically assigned to that building. Where there is more than one building, you will be asked which building each dwelling and/or non-residential space is located within.
In the unusual case where a mixed use project has townhouses, include the townhouses as a block by inputting them as one building in the Buildings profile table.
# Dwellings
To complete the Dwellings table you will need the floor plans and elevations and other supporting documentation. You will also need to identify ‘similar dwellings’ in the project.
‘Similar dwellings' can be grouped together to streamline data input. How dwellings are entered affects your input options in the Water and Energy categories.
‘Similar dwellings’ are dwellings that are both ‘thermally similar’ and share similar systems, such as heating and cooling, hot water, rainwater connections, and water fittings and fixtures.
If 'thermally similar' dwellings have different hot water, or heating and cooling systems, or different fittings and fixtures, these should be grouped separately.
Once you have determined the groupings, enter each group into BESS, with one column representing each dwelling group. If some of the details are the same, you can use the ‘Select All’ function to make bulk edits.
For a group of dwellings, enter the average dwelling area (not the combined area).
'Thermally similar' refers to the performance of the building envelope, the orientation of the dwelling and its living spaces. ‘Thermally similar’ dwellings have similar orientation, similar heating and cooling loads, are of a similar size and have a similar number of external exposed surfaces (walls, floor, and roof).
Examples of thermally similar groupings are provided in the images here.
Dual Occupancy (not thermally similar due to orientation) - enter as two dwellings
Townhouse Development - Rate the book end houses (3 exposed sides) and 1 internal
Medium Density (5-10 stories) - Rate Ground floor, middle floor and top floor
High Density (10+ stories) - Rate half the apartments across 5 floors including ground floor, middle floor, top floor and two others
# Non-Residential Spaces
Non-Residential and mixed-use developments. Create any non-residential spaces in your development. The available non-residential space types align broadly with the National Construction Code (NCC) building classes. Do not include car parks.
| Space Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Office | Class 5 |
| Shop | Class 6 |
| Lab / Warehouse | Class 7 or Class 8 |
| Unconditioned Warehouse / factory | Class 7 or Class 8 (unconditioned) |
| Public building | Class 9 - hospitals, schools, aged care facilities |
| Other building | Class 10 |
| Unconditioned Showroom / machine shop | Class 6 or Class 8 (unconditioned) |
Default space names are provided. You may leave these as default or modify using your own naming conventions, e.g. Office1.1, Office1.2 etc.
# Grouping non-residential spaces
You may group non-residential spaces if they are in the same building and will have the same type of systems (heating and cooling, hot water, water fixtures)
Example
A development has nine identical shops, each with an area of 70 square metres. These can be entered as either:
- Type = Shop, Area = 70 square metres and Quantity = 9 - Type = Shop, Area = 630 square metres and Quantity = 1
You can't group non-residential spaces if they are in different buildings, as each space or space group must be assigned to a building.
Example
A development has nine identical shops, each with an area of 70 square metres. Five of these are in Building A and 4 are in Building B. These can be entered as either:
- Name = Building A Shops, Type = Shop, Area = 70 square metres and Quantity = 5 - Name = Building B Shops, Type = Shop, Area = 70 square metres and Quantity = 4
OR - Name = Building A Shops, Type = Shop, Area = 350 square metres and Quantity = 1 - Name = Building B Shops, Type = Shop, Area = 280 square metres and Quantity = 1
Grouping of spaces affects the BESS inputs in Integrated Water Management and Operational Energy.
Example
A development has nine identical shops, each with an area of 70 square metres. Shops 1-5 are serviced by a 10,000L rainwater tank connected to toilets. Shops 6-9 are not connected to the rainwater tank. These can be entered as either:
- Name = Shops 1-5, Type = Shop, Area = 70 square metres and Quantity = 5 - Name = Shops 6-9, Type = Shop, Area = 70 square metres and Quantity = 4
OR
- Name = Shops 1-5, Type = Shop, Area = 350 square metres and Quantity = 1 - Name = Shops 6-9, Type = Shop, Area = 280 square metres and Quantity = 1
In this example, on the IWM category page, the group Shops 1-5 will be connected to the rainwater tank while the group Shops 6-9 will have no rainwater tank connection.
# Class 3
Class 3 developments (such as a boarding house, motel or hotel) are considered non-residential under the NCC, but can provide long term accommodation (opens new window). The ESD considerations for Class 3 will depend on the context, and should be discussed with the relevant council.
In BESS, Class 3 developments are most commonly entered as either dwellings (apartments) or non-residential (other building). Considerations include how 'self-contained' each room / unit is (does it include a bathroom and cooking facilities?) and whether the development may be used for long term accommodation.