# BESS Release 2.2.0

These changes went live on Sunday 12th October 2025.

# Overview

BESS 2.2 provides some significant updates to the BESS User Interface along with a new BESS application for subdivision projects.

With the introduction of BESS Subdivisions, the existing BESS application is now known as BESS Buildings. The BESS homepage now supports launch options for both applications.

BESS Users will have access to both BESS Buildings and BESS Subdivisions. New users can register via either application and switch between them at any stage via the logo to the far left of the navigation bar.

BESS Buildings URLs have changed from https://bess.net.au/app (opens new window) to https://bess.net.au/buildings (opens new window) - existing bookmarks however will continue to work and will redirect to the relevant BESS Buildings URL.

BESS Subdivisions has a similar look and feel to BESS Buildings with a slightly different palette and a different logo.

BESS Subdivisions Home

BESS Buildings Home

# BESS Workspaces (Beta)

BESS 2.2 introduces Project Collaboration & Workspaces.

Organisation workspaces can be created for multiple users and multiple projects to belong to
Projects can be shared across workspaces with fine grained controls over permission levels (administer, edit, review)
Individual projects can be shared with other users with fine grained controls over permission levels (administer, edit, review)
Access logs for projects show which users have accessed a project and when they accessed it, along with any changes and score updates

As it's in beta, you may spot the odd bug, quirk or rough edge — that’s part of the process. Your feedback will help us polish and improve the tool. Dive in, explore, and let us know what you think. (opens new window)

For a detailed walk-through guide please see the User Guide for Project Collaboration & Workspaces

# BESS Subdivisions (New!)

We’re thrilled to announce the release of BESS Subdivisions (beta) - a new BESS tool for sustainability assessment of subdivisions projects of all sizes, from 3 lots to 250+ lots. It is the culmination of many years' work by CASBE councils to develop a framework for sustainable subdivisions.

BESS Subdivisions can be used to create projects in all Victorian councils during the beta period. Use your existing BESS account to access BESS Subdivisions at https://bess.net.au/subdivisions/ (opens new window)

Special thanks to Mesh Planning and LID Consulting for their work on the Sustainable Subdivisions Framework, and to DEPT and Rubyfish Digital for working with us to turn this into our new BESS Subdivisions tool.

# BESS Buildings

Whilst BESS 2.2 does not provide any engine updates to BESS Buildings (BESS9 is still the current engine), it does come with a number of significant user-interface improvements and features.

The project sidebar has been updated with a number of changes and improvements:

Link to new Results section with the score and progress bar (see below)
Improved background/foreground colour contrasts for better readability and accessibility
New project owner, workspace and access summary
New Project Settings action (see below)
Ability to collapse Project setting controls for a more concise view

# Project results

A new project results section shows in a single screen a breakdown of all category and credit scoring. The scoring can be viewed as raw scores along and/or contribution scores (raw scores weighted based on the building class mix in the project).

The aim is to provide users with a single view of how their project is performing and what credits can be further targeted to improve their category and overall project score.

# Project settings

BESS Projects now have a dedicated settings modal that provides a number of administrative functions for users with administration rights to the project.

See the User Guide for Project Collaboration & Workspaces for more details.

Manage project workspace, council access and transfer project ownership to another user

Invite individual users to collaborate on the project

Keep track of project access and changes

# Data validation

BESS 2.2 introduces a range of data validation rules for BESS Building projects, aimed at helping users identify erroneous data entry. Validations are available in BESS9 (and onwards) projects.

There are two types of validations - warnings and issues.

Warnings flag potentially erroneous data, but the user can still commit that data after reviewing. For example, an unusually large dwelling area.

Issues are data that has been identified as erroneous and must be corrected before committing - for example, a building footprint that is larger than the site area.

# Other improvements

Disabled credits will inform the user what project input needs to be changed to enable it.

Show Reference feature for relevant editors. Where project inputs are evaluated relative to a reference case, the BESS editor screen provides a mechanism for the user to see the reference case so they can identify what improvements to target by selecting the "Show reference" checkbox.

Credit Traceability - For BESS9 (and onwards) project where credits are calculated from project profiling information, the credit now explicitly lists these profilers and provides links to open and edit them.

2.1.0 →