The way that designers select different components for their buildings has been transformed by the new Life Cycle Evaluator tool launched by the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS)
LCC option appraisal can be carried out by simply selecting and quantifying the components to be compared.
Results can be viewed in table or graph form, and can be adjusted for date and location using the Rebase facility. They can also be adjusted to allow for inflation and discount rates and for different periods. The data and reports can also be downloaded in a variety of formats.
The graph shows a life cycle comparison for three different flooring materials over a 20-year period.
The Evaluator tool can be used for a range of tasks including:
- Life cycle cost calculation for complete projects, elements or components, with detailed measurement
- Comparative LCC studies for alternative design solutions, products and components (option appraisal)
- Cost-in use data for elements, composites, products and components
- Reference service lives for products and components
- Maintenance requirements for products and components.
The Life Cycle Evaluator tool also provides embodied CO2 and CO2 equivalent data for all materials so that the results can be shown in terms of carbon as well as cash.
The tool covers around 1,800 materials and components, and enables users, whether they are designers, surveyors, contractors, facilities managers or clients, to compare costs/carbon and activities for components, or build up a set of components as a project.
The new Life Cycle Evaluator tool complements the present Building Running Costs Online module and offers a ‘bottom-up’ approach to costing a building, based on its components, as opposed to a ‘top-down’ approach based on the building as a whole.
