THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED LIFE CYCLE COSTING MODEL USING OBJECT ORIENTED AND VR TECHNOLOGIES An integrated life cycle costing model

There is an increasing realisation of the importance of operation and maintenance as opposed to capital costs throughout the life of an asset. In addition, new styles of contracts such as PFI (Private Finance Initiative) are becoming more popular. This will require that the building product is addressed within its holistic picture including the design, construction and maintenance. It is therefore vital to embed the life cycle costing element of a facility within its design and construction. Whole Life Costing is a technique used to facilitate effective choice between alternatives in the search of economic solutions. Information technology, particularly integrated databases and VR (Virtual Reality), can provide the mechanism to facilitate the integration of the whole life cost information. The research project described in this paper aims to add a life cycle costing element to the design phase of the OSCON integrated database developed at Salford University in the UK. The current integrated database within OSCON supports the functions of design, estimating and planning. The proposed system will allow the user within a VR environment to navigate inside the building retrieving information about building components that need replacement or repair. A colouring mechanism will be developed to show various elements in different colours according to cost criteria. This would allow the user to easily inspect the building and get rough ideas of repair and maintenance programmes, running costs and cash flows. The system will allow data to be updated continuously so that it will enable the comparison with initial plans and estimates and provides a fresh view of future action and feedback.