Revised lifecycle costing standard sets out handover recommendations

As its full name suggests, BS 8544 Life-cycle costing of buildings and constructed assets – Code of practice gives recommendations for undertaking lifecycle costing for the acquisition, construction, renewal, operation and occupancy, maintenance and end-of-life costs of a built asset.

Several sections of BS 8544 tackle the standard of information and how it should be handed over. For example, section 7 notes that lifecycle costing information should be identified as an organisational information requirement, an asset information requirement, or a project information requirement.

It also states: “The contractual lifecycle costing deliverables should include any exchange information requirements issued by the appointing party to the appropriate supply chain appointee or in-house responsible party, as well as stating the nature of the lifecycle costing deliverable required.

“The exchange information requirements should also specify any acceptance criteria against which the deliverable is to be assessed, in particular data structures, file formats, classification systems and file naming conventions that the appointing party requires its supply chain to use.”

Section 11 specifically addresses the handover from construction to maintenance. First, it emphasises the need for early engagement with the FM team: “Maintenance stakeholders shall be engaged during the design and construction phases to define maintainability requirements and lifecycle cost implications.”