Sustainability Victoria is conducting a survey to gather feedback on the FirstRate5® software and website and FirstRate5's technical support service. The results of this survey will be used to improve the FirstRate5® user support service and assist us to answer your queries more efficiently.

It has come to Sustainability Victoria attention that some assessors are experiencing problems with custom windows when upgrading project files completed in previous versions of the software to FirstRate5 v5.2.4 (3.1.3). The latest version of software is not recognising some custom windows and assessors are having to manually respecify windows after opening existing project files in FirstRate5 v5.2.4 (3.13). Sustainability Victoria is currently rectifying the problem and a bug fix version will be released in the coming days.

FirstRate5 v5.2.4 (3.13) is now available as a free download from www.fr5.com.au. SV recommends that all users upgrade to this version. This version includes the following changes: updated AFRC custom windows and roof windows library; updated postcode and climate zone data.

Sustainability Victoria is introducing a new help desk system to manage technical support requests submitted through the online technical support contact form and sent by email to [email protected]. As of 12:00pm on Thursday 10 November 2016, all FirstRate5 technical support requests received will be managed through Freshdesk. By submitting a request for technical support through the online technical support contact form or by sending an email to [email protected], users agree to the terms of Freshdesk’s Privacy Policy.

St Kilda East group known as '38 Westbury Street' has won the Built Environment category in the 2016 Premier's Sustainability Awards for their Green Roof in the City program.