Examination of relationships between building form and function, and the cost of mechanical and electrical services

This paper describes analysis work undertaken to examine relationships between building function, building form and mechanical and electrical services cost, including the collection of raw data, and the transformation work undertaken to enable analysis. Relationships are identified between building form parameters, e.g. perimeter of external walls, gross floor area, storey heights, percentage of glazing, and the mechanical and electrical services costs for buildings of different functions (commercial, industrial and residential). There are relationships between the costs of the mechanical and electrical services installations and some building form descriptors, but the particular descriptors and the strength of the relationships vary according to the function of the building.Mechanical And Electrical Services, Tender Cost, Cost Planning, Building Function, Building Form,

Benefit evaluation for off-site production in construction

Evaluating to what extent a component or building system should be produced off-site is inadequate within the industry. The potential benefits of off-site production (OSP) are commonly cited when justifying an OSP approach, yet holistic and methodical assessments of the applicability and overall benefit of these solutions, to a particular project, have been found to be deficient. Common methods of evaluation simply take material, labour and transportation costs into account when comparing various options, often disregarding other cost-related items such as site facilities, crane use and rectification of works. These cost factors are usually buried within the nebulous preliminaries figure, with little reference to the building approach taken. Further, softer issues such as health and safety, effects on management and process benefits are either implicit or disregarded within these comparison exercises. Yet it is demonstrated that these issues are some of the most significant benefits of OSP. A series of case studies demonstrated that evaluation focus is almost solely on direct material and labour costs of components, without explicit regard for the wider cost or soft issue implications of OSP on a project. The paper argues that until evaluation is more holistic and value-based rather than cost-based, OSP uptake in construction will be slow.Benefits, evaluation, off-site production, pre-assembly, value,

Can building form and function be used to predict the costs of mechanical and electrical services

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