First international standard on whole-life cost analysis

An international standard designed to bring consistency to whole-life cost analysis has been published in the UK.

Until now, there has been no guidance on what should be included in whole-life costs analyses, meaning that estimates from different cost consultants cannot be compared.

The new standard has been agreed between 17 countries and has been adopted by BSI British Standards.

It will be published by the Building Cost Information Service as “BS ISO15686-5 Buildings and Constructed Assets - Service Life Planning, Part 5: Life Cycle Costing”.

The guidance will include the basic principles and processes of whole-life costing, a definition of terms, and how costing should be used to calculate the long-term performance and sustainability of projects.

The BCIS has also published guidance to accompany the standard, called “Standardized Method of Life Cycle Costing”, which provides a standardised cost data structure based on the BCIS standard form of cost analysis.

The publication also includes worked examples.