Ian Ellingham

Whole Life Costing (WLC) needs to become a tool in the design process: that is the argument of this new title by Ian Ellingham and William Fawcett. For too long WLC has been misunderstood, considered too complicated for designers to undertake on a readily practical basis. But techniques are changing, and Whole Life Sustainability presents a selection of simple analytical tools that architects can use to arm themselves with confident and qualitative justifications for making sustainable decisions. Increasing numbers of clients are demanding that environmental design is balanced with financial and long-term cost issues, and WLC is a way of finding common currency for making decisions. Whole Life Sustainability shows a number of approaches for doing so, steering clear of number-crunching, and instead using simple ‘back-of-the-envelope’ techniques, and easy self-assessment tools for the architect to evaluate and understand the whole life of their building. Whole Life Sustainability is a simple route to more insightful, better-quality analysis in the design process.

New Generation Whole-Life Costing presents an innovative approach to decision-making and risk management for construction and real estate. It applies the options-based approach that has revolutionized the management of uncertainty in the business world. Based on government-sponsored research at Cambridge Architectural Research Ltd., the book introduces the idea of 'lifecycle options'. The desirability of whole-life costing is widely accepted, but take-up levels have been low. One problem is that traditional techniques fail to take account of future uncertainty. In contrast, the new options-based approach considers a diversity of possible futures, and favours flexible strategies that incorporate lifecycle options. This approach leads to more cost-effective and sustainable decisions, minimizing the risk of under- or over-investment. This book is structured around realistic case studies that demonstrate the prevalence of lifecycle options. These case studies are backed up by clear presentation of basic principles and mathematical techniques allowing the book to be read either as a stimulating introduction to new concepts, or as a guide to mathematical methods.

The options-based approach to making decisions has revolutionised the management of uncertainty in the financial world, and this study applies the same principles to costing in construction projects. This approach considers many possible futures with strategies that respond to events as they unfold, leading to cost-effective investment decisions.