Life Cycle Costing for the Analysis, Management and Maintenance of Civil Engineering Infrastructure

Life Cycle Costing for the Analysis, Management and Maintenance of Civil Engineering Infrastructure

John W. Bull

Preference :

A number of studies have considered life-cycle environmental impacts from the
housing sector (e.g. Adalberth, 1997; Adalberth et al., 2001; Peuportier, 2001; Asif
et al., 2007; Hacker et al., 2008; Hammond and Jones, 2008; Bribián et al., 2009; Oritz
et al, 2009; Mohan and Powell, 2010; Cuéllar-Franca and Azapagic, 2012) but the
life cycle costs have seldom been addressed. And yet, economic aspects such as
housing costs and affordability are important for the sustainable development of the
residential construction sector.
The housing sector is very important for the UK economy as it directly affects
the economic growth (HC, 2008). For example, in 2010, the construction industry
contributed 8.5% of the UK’s total gross domestic product (GDP) of £1.45 trillion,
to which the residential sector contributed 40% (UKCG, 2009). After Denmark and
Greece, the UK has the highest housing prices across the European Union with people
spending around 40% of their income on housing costs such as mortgage payments
and energy bills (Eurostat, 2012). The latter is the cause of fuel poverty of around six
million households owing to the rising energy prices (DECC, 2009; Bolton, 2010).
In recent years, many people have been unable to purchase a home because of
changes in the availability and types of financial and mortgage products (Sergeant,
2011; DCLG, 2012; RICS, 2012). This situation has created an unstable housing market,
which has led to a fall in house prices and dragged the UK economy further
into recession. For example, the average house price of around £190,000 in 2008 fell
to £160,000 in 2011 (HPUK, 2012). Home ownership is also declining and in 2011
it dropped to 66% from 70.9% in 2003; so the proportion of households that own
their own homes has fallen back to where it was in 1989 (BBC, 2012). This trend
is expected to continue over the next 10 years (Sergeant, 2011). Such a situation is
affecting particularly young people – only 10% of all owner-occupiers are under 35
years of age (BBC, 2012) while 33% of first-time buyers are over 35



Content :
  • Life cycle cost analysis of the UK housing stock
  • Case study: Life cycle analysis of a community hydroelectric power system
  • Selection indicators for stabilization of pavement systems
  • Pavement type selection for highway rehabilitation based on a life-cycle cost analysis
  • Life cycle management framework for highway bridges
  • Life cycle analysis of highway composite bridges
  • Life cycle cost analysis for corrosion protective coatings


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