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A framework to assist life-cycle costing analysis (LCCA) of building is increasingly important in today´s construction industry, as designers strive for sustainability in the creation and maintenance of built assets. Three fundamental stages in modelling relative to the whole-cost of building are important: (i)the description of the inter- relationship of the factors that make up life-cycle costing; (ii)the conceptual LCCA model framework; and, (iii)the implementation of the LCCA model into a central encyclopaedia of information held within an over-arching design data-base. This work concentrates on the initial two stages, analysing the inter-relationship of life-cycle factors; this is the necessary antecedent to proceed towards the realisation of an LCCA model for inclusion into an overall design tool to facilitate building- information-modelling (BIM). A life-cycle cost analysis framework is presented, as an essential part of a design model to support decision-making and BIM for building design and construction processes.

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Having worked in both industrial and academic environments in Europe and Asia-Pacific, Dr Andrew Whyte has gained a wide- ranging knowledge of construction management, design team interaction, whole-cost assessment for building, and asset development through viable local technologies, environmentally sustainable methods and low-cost means.

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