BSRIA updates guidance on life-cycle costing
BSRIA has published new guidance to life-cycle costing that supersedes guidance published in 2008. BG67/2016 presents a simple process for the practical calculation of life-cycle costs. There are examples to show how the different stages of the process relate to one another, to show how the results are obtained and what they really mean.
Life-cycle costing focuses on economic assessment using profiles of current and future costs and benefits to arrive at a discounted net present value of the life-cycle costs.
There is increasing emphasis being placed on live-cycle-costing studies as part of the decision-making process for new build, refurbishment and plant-replacement projects so that all the costs can be taken into account, rather than just those for capital investment.
The appreciation of life-cycle issues is fundamental to the use of BIM Level 2 as mandated by the UK Government on its centrally procured projects, and it is expected that similar standards will be applied by other parts of the public sector and by many private-sector clients and asset owners.
The guide is compatible with the parts of ISO 15686 that provide recommendations for life-cycle costs and will be relevant to clients, estate managers, engineers, consultants, quantity surveyors and cost advisors.
Catherine England, BSRIA marketing officer, explains, ‘The life-cycle-costing process forces the client and the project team to challenge their own assumptions and those of others, this will lead to proposed solutions that have been thought through more rigorously and which will stand up to scrutiny.
The guide is available from the online BSRIA bookshop as part of the carbon and cost-analysis set.
