Many buildings look great when they are finished but unfortunately prove to be both expensive and difficult to operate. This may be due to a short-term focus, lack of reflection or excessive cost-consciousness, concentrating on how to get the most out of the construction budget while the operating budget is someone else’s headache. Whole-life costs, dialogue and end-to-end thinking are keywords for getting to grips with this.
The challenge is to qualify the client, the project designers and the contractors to plan, design and execute a building project with well thought-through operational solutions. On average, the ratio between the costs of construction and operation over 30 years of the life of a building is 1:4. By focusing on operational considerations and whole-life costs, and with a small investment in long-term sustainable solutions at the construction stage, one can quickly make significant savings against the subsequent operating budget. Similarly, well thought-out and user-friendly physical surroundings will promote well-being and productivity in both users and operations staff, and so contribute to the overall bottom line.