BS ISO 15686-5:2008

BS ISO 15686-5:2008 Buildings and constructed assets. Service life planning. Life cycle costing

BS ISO 15686-5 is the first international standard for property life cycle costing. BS ISO 15686-5 has been adopted in the UK and has been developed by industry and in consultation with 17 countries. It is expected to have a major impact on all future construction procurement - particularly major investment and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public-Private partnership (PPP) projects. The standard will also have an impact upon the design of new buildings through clients’ desire to set the right budgets and optimize their life cycle costs, from a whole life value and sustainable development perspective.

What does BS ISO 15686-5 include?

BS ISO 15686-5 gives guidelines for performing life-cycle cost (LCC) analyses of buildings and constructed assets and their parts. It also includes information on the following:

• Clear terminology and a common methodology for life-cycle costing (LCC)
• Practical use of LCC so that it becomes widely used in the construction industry
• The application of LCC techniques and methodology for a wide range of procurement methods
• Decision making and evaluation processes at relevant stages of any project
• Concerns over uncertainties and risks and improve the confidence in LCC forecasting
• Guiding principles, instructions, definitions for different forms of LCC and reporting
• Framework for consistent LCC predictions and performance assessment, which facilitates more robust levels of comparative analysis and cost benchmarking
• Common basis for setting LCC targets during design and construction, against which actual cost performance can be tracked and assessed over the asset life span
• Guidance on when to undertake LCC, to what level and what cost headings are appropriate for consideration
• The real value of effectively doing LCC in construction by using service-life planning
• The differences between life-cycle costing and whole-life costing (WLC)
• Cross-references to guidance on associated activities within the other parts of BS ISO 15686.

What is life cycle costing?

Life cycle costing is a valuable technique which is used for predicting and assessing the cost performance of constructed assets. Life cycle costing is one form of analysis for determining whether a project meets the clients’ performance requirements.

Life cycle costing is relevant at portfolio/estate management, constructed asset and facility management levels. It helps with decision making and comparing alternatives. Life cycle costing allows consistent comparisons to be performed between alternatives with different cash flows and different time frames. The analysis takes into account relevant factors from throughout the service life, with regard to the client’s specified brief and the project-specific service life performance requirements.

Who should use this standard on life cycle costing?

• Procurers of constructed assets, with an interest in long term ownership – these may be public or private, or lessees with a reasonably long period of interest in the property and/or responsibility for maintenance and /or operational costs
• Designers
• Constructors and their specialist suppliers of materials and components
• Facility operators (to help them input more effectively into the design process)
• Cost consultants and other specialists.

BS ISO 15686-5 is particularly relevant to public clients, where the lack of any projected income from some constructed assets may make traditional investment appraisals more challenging. It is also useful to the work of specialists providing information on service life and on environmental performance.