Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD)

When applying for a planning permit to construct a new building or altering an existing building, you'll need to provide additional information with your planning permit. This information demonstrates your consideration of a range of sustainability categories that affect developments. You'll find information on all of the sustainability categories in the next section of this page.

Our expectations are listed below each sustainability category to assist you in preparing your report, including:

• BESS: achieve a minimum score of 60% overall with a minimum of 50% across energy, water and indoor environment quality
• Green Star: demonstrate the development can achieve a four-star rating with a minimum of 50 points.

We've adopted a series of detailed factsheets to assist you in considering each sustainability category across your planned development.

These factsheets provide background information, design guidance and best practice standards across the 10 key sustainability categories relevant to your development. They're also used by other Victorian councils.

You'll find these factsheets under each sustainability category on this page.

Policy objectives

• Achieve a healthy indoor environment quality for the wellbeing of building occupants, including fresh air intake, cross ventilation and natural daylight.
• Achieve thermal comfort levels with minimal need for mechanical heating, ventilation and cooling.
• Reduce indoor air pollutants through use of materials with low chemical toxicity.
• Reduce reliance on mechanical heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting systems.
• Minimise noise levels and noise transfer within and between buildings and associated external areas.

Our expectations

• Adequate daylight to all living areas, bedrooms and all other regularly occupied spaces (as defined in BESS).
• North-facing windows in all living rooms.
• Windows that can open in all habitable rooms.
• Appropriate shading to all windows receiving direct sunlight.

Download factsheets

Indoor Environment Quality Factsheet(PDF, 323KB)

Daylight Factsheet(PDF, 2MB)

Natural Ventilation Factsheet(PDF, 2MB)

Policy objectives

• To improve the efficient use of energy, by ensuring development demonstrates design potential for ESD initiatives at the planning stage.
• To reduce total operating greenhouse gas emissions.
• To reduce energy peak demand through particular design measures (e.g., appropriate building orientation, shading to glazed surfaces, optimise glazing to exposed surfaces, space allocation for solar panels and external heating and cooling systems).

Our expectations

• Developments to perform 10% better than NCC Section J minimum requirement.
• Residential development to achieve 6.5 star NatHERS with cooling loads not exceeding 22MJ/m² for any dwelling.
• Energy efficient hot water, heating and cooling systems within one energy star rating of the best available.
• Daylight/occupancy sensors for external lighting.
• External clothes drying facility where feasible.

Download factsheets

Energy Efficiency

External Shading

Building Envelope Performance

Zero Carbon Development

Policy objectives

• Improve water efficiency.
• Reduce total operating potable water use.
• Encourage the collection and reuse of rainwater.
• Encourage the appropriate use of alternative water sources (e.g. greywater).

Our expectations

• Rainwater capture and reuse for toilet flushing and irrigation at a minimum.
• WELS rated fittings within one star of the best available.

Download factsheets

Water efficiency

Policy objectives

• Reduce the impact of stormwater run-off.
• Improve the water quality of stormwater run-off.
• Achieve best practice stormwater quality outcomes.
• Incorporate the use of water-sensitive urban design, including stormwater reuse.

Our expectations

• 100% STORM score or MUSIC modelling demonstrating best practice stormwater management.

Download factsheets

Stormwater management(PDF, 579KB)

Site permeability(PDF, 2MB)

Policy objectives

• Ensure the built environment is designed to promote walking, cycling and public transport in that order.
• Minimise car dependency.
• Promote the use of low emissions vehicle technologies and supporting infrastructure.

Our expectations

• Residential bicycle parking comprising one per dwelling for residents and one per five dwellings for visitors.
• Non-residential bicycle parking that is 50% more than required by Planning Clause 52.34 Bicycle Facilities. This should include end of trip facilities comprising one shower per 10 bicycle spaces and one locker per bicycle space provided.
• Infrastructure to support electric vehicle charging.

Download factsheets

Transport

Electric vehicles

Policy objectives

• Ensure waste avoidance, reuse and recycling during the design, construction and operation stages of development.
• Ensure durability and long-term reusability of building materials.
• Ensure sufficient space is allocated for future change in waste management needs, including (where possible) composting and green waste facilities.

Our expectations

• Recycling facilities are as convenient as general waste facilities to all future occupants.
• 80% of all construction and demolition waste by mass is recycled.

Download factsheets

Waste management

Policy objectives

• Protect and enhance biodiversity within the municipality.
• Provide environmentally sustainable landscapes and natural habitats and minimise the urban heat island effect.
• Encourage the retention of significant trees.
• Encourage the planting of indigenous vegetation.
• Encourage the provision of space for productive gardens, particularly in larger residential developments.

Our expectations

• Protect existing on-site vegetation.
• Incorporate indigenous and/or productive gardens.
• Provide a tap for irrigation (connected to rainwater tank) and drainage on balconies, courtyards and backyards.

Download factsheets

Urban ecology

Green roof wall facade

The following are other relevant categories that fall outside of planning clause 15.01-2L of the Whittlesea Planning Scheme.

While not specifically covered by the policy, the information often overlaps with other categories.

We therefore encourage applicants to also address these categories in any proposed development.

Additional categories

• Building materials
• Construction building management
• Innovation
• Melbourne climate.

Our expectations

• Substitute cement content of concrete with recycled content.
• Select low embodied energy materials. Limit or do not use aluminium, zinc and other high embodied energy materials.
• Source all timber from sustainably managed sources that hold third-party verification.
• Select recycled or reusable materials.
• Avoid materials that are toxic in manufacture and use.
• Select low-maintenance and highly durable materials.
• Preparation and availability of Building Users Guide (BUG).
• Individual utility meters for all dwellings and non-residential areas/tenancies.

Download factsheets

Building materials

Construction and building management

Innovation

Melbourne climate