Whole Life Cost Analysis

Whole life building costs take into account all costs associated with the lifecycle of the building project from inception to construction (Ashworth and Perera, 2015). Further to this, the whole life building costs account for associated costs during the use of the building, operations and disposal of the building (Kilbert, 2016). Kishk et al., (2003) defines whole life building costing as the systematic consideration of all costs and revenues related to the acquisition, use, maintenance and disposal of a building project. The BS ISO 15686-1 defines whole life cost as a “a tool used to assist in assessing and evaluating the cost performance of construction work, aimed at enabling choices where there are alternative means of achieving the client’s

1.3. Structure of the Report

The structure of the report is detailed below.

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter introduces the concept of whole life costing. This chapter presents the history and development of whole life building cost analysis. Further to this, key definitions associated with whole life building cost analysis will be presented. The uses of whole life costing and how they are implemented in the building industry will be presented. The current practice, barriers facing whole life building cost analysis are discussed and analysed in this chapter.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter conducts a detailed literature review of whole life building cost analysis in the industry. The key topics covered comprise of:

- Principles of whole life building cost analysis.

- The use of information and data sources for whole life building cost analysis.

- The link between sustainable buildings and whole life cost analysis.

- The mathematical models and calculations used in the whole life building cost analysis. This includes drawbacks and associated critics to these methods with respect to ascertaining

This chapter will summarise key findings from secondary research. The key topics comprise of the following:

• A detailed review of the key concepts and principles of whole life building costs.

• Highlight the features, importance and benefits of whole life building cost analysis.

• Detail best practice guidelines for whole life building cost analysis.

• Outline the data requirements for whole life building cost analysis with a detailed analysis of the importance of using accurate and most up to date information.

• Review risk assessment techniques for whole life building cost analysis.

• Review existing whole life building cost analysis implementation models taking into account the influence of sustainable energy.

Chapter 5: Conclusions, Recommendations and Future Research

This chapter presents the conclusions, recommendations and future research for this research