02. Life cycle cost and service life planning – Above Green

(4 credits available)

Aim

To deliver whole life value from investment and promote economic sustainability by recognising and encouraging the use and sharing of life cycle costing and service life planning. Thus improving design, specification and through-life maintenance and operation.

Assessment criteria

The following is required to demonstrate compliance:

Two credits - Elemental life cycle cost (LCC)

An elemental LCCanalysis has been carried out at the Concept Design stage together with any design option appraisals in line with 'Buildings and constructed assets – Service life planning – Part 5: Life cycle costing ISO 15686-5:2008.

The LCC analysis shows:

2.a

An outline LCC plan has been undertaken for the project based on the building's basic structure and envelope, appraising a range of options and based on the life expectancy of the refurbished building, e.g. 20, 30, 50+ years.

2.b

The servicing strategy for the project outlining services component over a 15-year period, in the form of an 'elemental LCC Plan'.

2.c

A fit-out strategy is developed outlining fit-out options over a 10-year period.

One credit - Component level LCC Plan

A component level LCC plan has been developed by the end of Process Stage 4 in line with ISO 15686-5:2008 and includes the following component types (where present):

Applicability	Building components
Part 1 assessments, including components within scope of works.	Envelope, e.g. cladding, windows and roofing.
Part 2 and 3 assessments including newly specified local and core services.	Newly specified local or core service equipment, e.g. boiler, air-conditioning, air handling unit or controls etc.
Parts 1 - 4, where finishes are within scope of works.	Finishes, e.g. walls, partitions, floors or ceilings etc.
Where external spaces are within scope of works.	External spaces, e.g. alternative hard landscaping, boundary protection.

Where carrying out a major refurbishment covering all parts of the scheme, a component level LCC plan shall be developed as above.

Demonstrate, using appropriate examples provided by the design team, how the component level LCC plan has been used to influence building and systems design, and specification to minimise life cycle costs and maximise critical value.

One credit - Capital cost reporting

Report the capital cost for the refurbishment or fit-out works in pounds per square metre (£k/m²). This is reported on the BREEAM Assessment Scoring and Reporting tool.

Checklists and tables

None.

Compliance notes

Ref	Terms	Description
Applicable assessment criteria
CN1	Part 1: Fabric and structure	Criteria 2.b and 2.c are not applicable. All other criteria in this issue are applicable.
CN2	Part 2: Core Services	Criteria 2.a and 2.c care not applicable. All other criteria in this issue are applicable.
CN3	Part 3: Local Services	Criteria 2.a and 2.c care not applicable. All other criteria in this issue are applicable.
CN4	Part 4: Interior Design	Criteria 2.a and 2.b are not applicable. All other criteria in this issue are applicable.
CN5	Parts: 1, 2, 3 and 4, e.g. major refurbishment	All assessment criteria in this issue are applicable.
General
CN6	Heritage buildings	Where there are conservation requirements that set an explicit requirement from a relevant conservation or heritage authority (e.g. UNESCO, a national or local heritage body, local authority conservation or heritage officer) regarding the selection of components and materials. The elemental LCC and component level LCC plan should be based upon the range of materials and components that are allowable within the heritage restrictions in order to identify the option that provides the lowest life cycle cost. Where there are components or materials where only one product type is allowable as a result of heritage requirements, this can be excluded from the study.
CN7	Life Cycle Costing methodology ISO 15686-5:2008	The methodology used shall follow the requirements of ISO 15686-5:2008 and shall include the following cost elements applicable to the assessment parts: construction, maintenance, operation, occupancy and end of Life.
CN8	Appropriate examples. See criterion 4	The options selected to demonstrate how life cycle costs have been minimised and critical value maximised must be appropriate in terms of their relative impact on project costs, future building maintenance burden and size (volume or area) and the stage of the project. At stage 2, when considering the outputs from the elemental LCC plan, examples could be in the form of elemental appraisals (where appropriate), evolutions in concept design to reduce maintenance or replacement costs or contracts for further elemental analysis. At stage 4, when considering the outputs from the component level options analysis, examples are likely to be in the form of component specifications coupled with justifications for their selection (i.e. how they reduce life cycle costs and maximise critical value).
CN8.1	Predefined specifications	Where the building is constructed to a predefined standard specification, the LCC elemental plan for this specification may be used to help demonstrate compliance.
CN8.2	Capital cost reporting	At the design stage of assessment, where the final information is not available, the credit can be awarded where the client provides the predicted capital cost, including contingencies, and commits to providing this information for the final stage of assessment. At the final stage, if the final capital cost is not known, the client's or cost consultant's best estimate should be provided. This data will be used to inform future BREEAM performance benchmarking and will be anonymised.

Methodology

None.

Evidence

Criteria	Interim design stage	Final post-construction stage
All	One or more of the appropriate evidence types listed in 4.0 The BREEAM evidential requirements section can be used to demonstrate compliance with these criteria.
1 - 2	Elemental LCC plan.	As per interim design stage.
3 - 4	Component level LCC options appraisal.	As per interim design stage.

Additional information

Relevant definitions

Life cycle cost (LCC)

The cost of an asset, or its parts throughout its life cycle, while fulfilling the performance requirements; a methodology for systematic economic evaluation of life cycle costs over a period of analysis, as defined in the agreed scope.

Elemental LCC plan

This is commonly used for developing solutions at project level during option appraisals for the whole building or system. Information may be a mix of typical benchmark costs for key elements, comparative cost modelling or approximate estimates. It is expressed as cost per square metre of gross internal floor area (GIFA) and presented for elemental analysis, aligned to the level of capital cost plans.

Predicted capital cost

The capital cost for the building includes the expenses related to the initial construction of the building:

Construction, including preparatory works, materials, equipment and labour
Site management
Construction financing
Insurance and taxes during construction
Inspection and testing.

Costs relating to land procurement, clearance, design, statutory approvals and post occupancy aftercare should not be included.

Other information

Capital cost reporting

The lack of data relating to capital and life cycle costs and benefits arising from more sustainable building design presents a major barrier to take-up of more sustainable solutions. This issue seeks to encourage the sharing of data to break down these barriers and ensure that BREEAM continues to encourage cost effective and financially beneficial solutions. This information is collected to assist research into the cost and savings of developing sustainable or BREEAM-assessed buildings. This is used to inform the business case for sustainability and the ongoing development of BREEAM. All data submitted will be treated as confidential and will only be used anonymously.

Component level LCC plan

A component level LCC plan is commonly used for cost planning specification choices of systems, elements or component levels during design development. Component level LCC appraisal for service life planning at the feasibility stage requires the environment of the building and other local conditions to be identified, and the fundamental requirements to be met in planning the service life of the building. Decisions should be made on:

the likely design life of the building (rather than the contractual design life)
minimum functional performance criteria for each component over the building's design life
components that must be repairable, maintainable or replaceable within the design life of the building.

When to undertake life cycle costing

Life cycle costing is relevant throughout the building or constructed asset's life cycle, in particular during the project planning, design and construction and also during the in-use phases. (For further information please refer to ISO 15686-5.)

Standardised method for life cycle costing (SMLCC) for construction

ISO 15686-5:2008 describes the standardised method for life cycle costing (SMLCC) for construction procurement. The objectives of this guide are to provide the following.

LCC practitioners with a standardised method of applying life cycle costing, applicable to the construction industry and to the key stages of the procurement process.
Process mapping the LCC stages - to help structure how to plan, generate, and interpret and present the results for a variety of different purposes and levels of LCC planning.
Instructions on how to define the client's specific requirements for life cycle costing and the required outputs and forms of reporting - and to decide on which method of economic evaluation to apply.
Simplification and demystification - by providing practical guidance, instructions and definitions, together with informative worked examples on how to undertake life cycle costing (for construction).
An industry accepted methodology to facilitate a more accurate, consistent and robust application of LCC estimation and option appraisals, thereby creating a more effective and robust basis for LCC analysis and benchmarking. ISO 15686-5:2008 also seeks to help eliminate confusion over scoping and terminology and to address concerns over the uncertainty and risks that are undermining confidence in life cycle costs used for construction procurement.