Drivers for whole life performance

The Housing Corporation's Scheme Development Standards set out 'the Corporations requirements and recommendations for all housing projects which receive Social Housing Grant'.

Maintainability and durability are part of the basic standards which the Housing Corporation used to determine quality. A whole life performance and costing approach can demonstrate that these essential items are complied with.

For the 2011 round of bidding the Housing Corporation expressly required whole life cost (now more correctly known as life cycle cost) information. There is a choice of benchmark ratios comparing replacement and maintenance costs (costs-in-use) with capital costs so schemes can be judged for whole life cost performance.

The benchmark costs-in-use to capital cost ratio should be less than or equal to either:

• 85% where the net present value for costs-in-use are calculated over 100 years at 3.5% discount rate; or
• 80% where the net present value for costs-in-use are calculated over 60 years at 3.5% discount rate.

The Housing Corporation sponsored 4 Innovation and Good Practice (IGP) projects to provide background information to life cycle costs as well as an outline life cycle cost modelling tool:

• Whole Life Cost of Social Housing, project reference number 01-5856-2002/2003, which 'produced benchmark whole life cost models based on the capital cost models used in the Housing Corporation's Total Cost Indicators'. The whole life cost models are for a period of 100 years.
• Component Life Information, project reference number 01-14113-2003/2004, which provides core information for whole life costs plans on a component level, including durability and maintenance data.
• Guide to the Housing Corporation's Life Cycle Cost Measure for Social Housing provided guidance on target costs in use to capital cost ratios for different periods and listed assumptions underlying the life cycle cost models.
• BLP Life Cycle Cost on-line modelling application, project reference number G01-20523-2006/2008, the Life Cycle Cost modelling tool is for Social Housing in the UK. It allows life cycle costs to be modelled with minimal data inputs from the user.