A STORM or MUSIC rating can be used to demonstrate that the proposed development will comply with the Council's Stormwater Management/WSUD and/or ESD policies, and is incorporated into one of our Stormwater Management, WSUD or ESD reports. The STORM tool has some inherent limitations that mean that it isn't always able to provide accurate or practical results. For example it has a limited range of WSUD treatment options, it isn't able to model WSUD treatment trains and if rainwater tanks are used it always assumes these are plumbed to toilets, which may not be practical or possible in reality. As a result, MUSIC modelling is sometimes required, especially for complex sites or developments with a high proportion of hardstand such as large townhouse estates and industrial developments.

Many councils have adopted the BESS tool and the STORM tool to be used to assess ESD and WSUD in most planning permit applications. BESS and STORM are sustainable design assessment tools with agreed targets developed in conjunction with the Municipal Association of Victoria and Melbourne Water, to ensure new developments meet improved sustainability and Stormwater Management, Stormwater Quality and/or Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) benchmarks compared with a business as usual approach.

For most developments a report stating how the development complies is also be required. For more information on these reports see our articles on Stormwater Management Reports, Sustainable Design Assessments (small and medium developments) and Sustainability Management Plans (large developments). Let us do the hard work for you.