Costing Whole-Life Performance
Life
support
The whole-life performance of buildings is a growing priority
for clients and politicians, but the industry is struggling to
shake off its traditional short-term approach. Ewen Rose reports
H
ow do you cost the future? Building the CIBSE Whole Life Performance group, believes
services professionals are comfortable with that design and value are often neglected because
methods available for calculating the price clients find it hard to “articulate their vision” for their
of designing and constructing buildings, buildings.
but putting a value on long-term operational issues “There’s no formal mechanism for evaluating life
remains a mystery to many. effectiveness of building services,” he told a recent
Yet the lifecycle cost of a building dwarfs the initial CIBSE seminar on whole life costing. “We are trying
construction price; the salaries of those occupying to change the focus from cost to value to reflect the fact
a commercial property, for example, are estimated that the cost of the design is only a tiny fraction of the
at around 90 per cent of the total life cost of that overall cost of the building throughout its operating
building. life.”
The comfort, well-being and productivity of a
building’s occupants, therefore, should be a key Compliance
priority – but putting a value on the contribution Clements-Croome says building designers could
that good building design makes to these aspects is learn a lot from the experience of industries such
difficult. We know it is a vital contributor, but how do as aerospace and defence: “They have very robust
you price that? evaluation processes because there are lives at stake
CIBSE recently held a whole-day seminar on the with what they do.”
issue of whole-life costing (WLC) of buildings, where Some of these processes have been adopted for
practitioners and clients got together to wrestle with buildings by a research team under Clements-Croome
this issue. They heard that the topic was receiving at the University of Reading, and published in a booklet
far greater attention than in the past but, generally, entitled High Quality Building Services based on Whole
the concept was poorly understood and the factors Life Value. Further help is also at hand in the shape of
involved meant it was a long way from being a day-to- the ‘Service Life Planning’ series of British and ISO
day practical reality. Standards under development (BS ISO 15686). CIBSE
Professor Derek Clements-Croome, chairman of technical director Hywel Davies says these are designed >
54 CIBSE Journal March 2009
www.cibsejournal.com
CIBSEmar09 pp54-57 Costing.indd 54 5/3/09 14:15:17
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