May I congratulate you on the article on whole-life costing (24 June, page 66). Nothing is more important to the industry than an appreciation of its role in asset management for a business.

The article succinctly sets out what looks like a sensible methodology and demonstrates savings on capital, energy and maintenance costs. This is a welcome rebuttal of the usual conventional wisdom that sustainable design costs more in the short term. Given the National Audit Office’s current analysis of housing costs using modern methods of construction and the relationship to whole-life costing, your article was excellently timed.

Postscript

John Hobson, former head of construction at the DETR

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