I am interested in hearing from anyone relative to the lifecycle/sustainable management of the built environment in concert with an organization's mission - inclusive of metrics, benchmarks, associated decision support mechanisms, and costing.
As a senior consultant with RS Means / Reed Business my focus is upon developing and implementing cost-driven, business process-based methods to efficiently link the physical environment to the functional requirements of its users.
PROFILE
Currently senior consultant for RS Means / Reed Business
Hands-on professional with extensive proven experience defining new solutions, key messaging and value proposition, and providing strategic direction.
Life cycle costing for buildings just got a big boost in the United Kingdom appears to be ahead of that in the US, though the GAO and GSA are certainly keeping pace. “Standardized Method of Life Cycle Costing for Construction Procurement” is one example, published in by the British Standards Institute (the British equivalent of ANSI, the American National Standards Institute) and the Building Cost Information Service (BICS) of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. The document builds [provides a common structure for reporting building construction costs. The later can be accomplished in the U.S. by applying construction reference cost and associated repair and maintenance cost databases (aka RS Means) to develop building costs models and thus creating current replacement values and long term capital renewal and mainteance cost budgets.The publication outlines a standardized way of describing what should be included in a life cycle cost analysis. This is critical when for building owners / stewards to construct, operate and maintain public buildings. If this "best practice" is not followed the risk is that insufficient funds will exist to cover the costs of maintaining and operating the building, and thus the organizational mission is placed into jeapordy. The bottom-line need is to understand the real life cycle costs of buildings.With the current drive toward " sustainabilty " and " green buildings ", a life cycle approach is equally important, as organizations attempt to take measures to meet environmental / perofrmance goals create actionable bricks and mortar bricks and mortar projects.
The tools for accurate life cycle costing and total cost of management (TCO) exist, however, the drivers to move in this direction are now ever present.
Trying to forget the discussion about how money costs more when you have to pay back investors as an excuse for not being green given proven ROI/TCO/LCCA documentation. Many of us are in leased space so it is difficult to rank-order decisions requiring capital or leasehold improvements but getting denied on sustainability measures is commonplace, even before the fall of our economy.