Further information on whole life costings

Useful publications

This selection of data sources, while not comprehensive, gives some indication of the level of information available.

Component life data

  • British Board of Agréments Certificates
    Provides authoritative and independent information on the performance of building products including life expectancy.
  • Building Fabric Component Life Manual, Spon Press (ISBN 0-419-25510-9)
    Provides comparative data on the durability and maintenance of building components, material and assemblies used in typical commercial, industrial and public building types.
  • Building Services Component Life Manual, Blackwell Science Ltd (ISBN 0-632-05887-0)
    Provides data on the durability and maintenance requirements of M&E plant.
  • Kirk, S. J. and Dell'isola, A. J., Life Cycle Costing for Design Professionals (2nd edition), McGraw Hill, New York, NY, 1995.
    Includes 45 pages of maintenance and replacement data (with costs in US dollars) covering all elements.
  • BCIS Life Expectancies of Building Components digital.
    A practical guide established from a survey of the views of building surveyors.
  • Owning and Operating Costs, Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), London.
    Gives indicative details of energy consumption, maintenance costs and rough life spans for plant.

Occupancy cost data

  • Bernard Williams Associates, Facilities Economics, Building Economics Bureau Ltd, Kent, 1995
    • A comprehensive study, including hard costs.  
  • PSA Cost in Use Tables (3rd edition), HMSO, London, 1991
    • Includes elemental analysis of cleaning, maintenance and repair costs.  
  • BCIS Building Running Costs Online
    • Includes a Life cycle cost module, which predicts the life cycle costs of over 100 building types.

Energy and environmental data

  • Anderson, J. and Shiers, D., The Green Guide To Specification, Blackwell Science, 2004 (ISBN 0 63205 961 3).
    Provides a rating for material options based upon their environmental impact.
  • Moss, K., Energy Management in Buildings, Taylor and Francis, 2005.

Other guidance

British Standard, BS ISO 15686-1:2011, Building and constructed assets, service life planning

Part 1: General principles
Provides a methodology for forecasting the service life of a building and estimating the timing of necessary maintenance and replacement of components, so providing a means of comparing different building options.

Part 2: Service life prediction procedures
Describes the principles for service life predictions of building components, considering various service environments.

Part 3: Performance audits and reviews
Is concerned with ensuring the effective implementation of service life planning throughout the briefing, design, construction and operational life of a building.

Part 4: Data requirements
Under preparation

Part 5: Life cycle costing
Describes the procedures for performing Life Cycle Costing analyses. A UK supplement is currently being developed by RICS to include a new standard for lifecycle costing including a standard form of cost analyses.

Part 6: Procedures for considering environmental impacts
Defines how and when to include environmental aspects into the design of a constructed asset and provides a procedure for assessing the relative environmental impacts of design options.

British Standard, BS ISO 15686-5:2017: Building and constructed assets - Service life planning Part 5:Life-cycle costing

This standard supersedes BS ISO 15686-5:2008

Energy

The Building Research Energy Conservation Support Unit produces guidance for numerous building types, including costings.