Sustainable Tools for Environmental Performance Strategy

About STEPS

STEPS is an interactive, user-friendly, web-based residential building sustainability rating tool developed as part of the Sustainable Tools for Environmental Performance Strategy (STEPS) project.

The web-based tool provides a comprehensive assessment of the environmental performance of a given planning application, and generates a report, which offers relevant information for increasing the sustainability performance of the proposed dwelling. The tool has a vital role to play in simplifying the approval authority process and streamlining applications.

STEPS awards scores for the five most critical elements in constructing environmentally sustainable dwellings. These include greenhouse emissions from operating energy, peak energy use, mains (drinking) water use, stormwater quality impacts, and building materials impacts. The program also calculates the number of bicycle places required and the area need to provide for waste recycling services.

STEPS is a Moreland City Council initiative. Expert advice and technical information has been provided by Ark Resources, Integrated Urban Management (IUM), Centre for Design RMIT, GHD Pty Ltd and Organica Engineering to enable the development and updating of the tool.

STEPS Towards Simple Planning…

In response to mounting global environmental pressure Moreland City Council and the City of Port Phillip have recognised the benefits in combining their resources, knowledge, and skills-base to work together to achieve a common goal of encouraging and attaining positive sustainable built environment outcomes through the planning process. This collaboration has resulted in a consistent and integrated approach to assessing the sustainability of development applications in our municipalities through the use of STEPS for residential and the Sustainable Design Scorecard (SDS) for non-residential developments.

Both Councils formally adopted STEPS and the SDS as the preferred method of sustainability assessment in November 2005 and have supported and engage other local governments and industry in the use of the tools through CASBE. The use of STEPS and SDS has played a central part in heading towards sustainable buildings through Sustainable Design Assessment in the Planning Process (SDAPP.)

As well as the STEPS and SDS assessment tools, Councils have also prepared draft Planning Scheme Local Policies that will require new planning applications to achieve a specified level of sustainability performance. In addition to this, supporting documentation explaining the use and application of the STEPS and SDS has also been prepared.

 

About CASBE

CASBE, the Council Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment is a collection of Victorian municipal governments committed to the creation of a more sustainable built environment both within and beyond their municipalities. CASBE aims to actively lead Victoria towards a sustainable built environment through effective planning and demonstration, supported by a self-sustaining alliance of committed local governments.

The CASBE mission is to provide a coordinated program to develop formal and consistent approaches to ESD, with a primary focus on the planning process. This includes: