think ahead.

think ahead.
Innovative tools to help you achieve more efficient, cost conscious, and environmentally sustainable resultsnow and into the future.

Forward-thinking organizations are taking proactive measures to use their resources wisely.
Along with technological advances to improve efficiency, there has been a significant and lasting shift toward preventing waste by making better use of existing assets. Rider Levett Bucknall recognizes this seismic change in thinking as the dawn of the Age of Environmental Thrift.
More and more organizations have a heightened interest in business solutions which maximize performance, enhance value, and minimize environmental impact. Facing limited capital resources, building owners and managers must find the right balance between initial capital cost and long-term operation and maintenance costs. Rider Levett Bucknall l Life addresses this need by providing building owners and managers with new tools, methods, and information, allowing them to make well-informed decisions that represent their best long-term financial and sustainable interests. From benchmarking and reviewing existing properties, to analyzing proposals for renovations or new construction, Rider Levett Bucknall l Life is the next evolution of our services that has been created forand with the assistance ofour clients across the globe.

services
RElifing

An intelligent decision-making tool to help capture remaining asset value, avoid premature obsolescence, and identify when and where to spend money to extend the life of an existing building.

Life Cycle Cost + Carbon Modeling

An innovative model that identifies the total cost to build, operate, and maintain a building over its lifetime, enabling building owners and managers to make informed decisions that minimize whole life cost, maximize whole life value, and lessen environmental impact.

Building Quality Assessment

A quantitative assessment of an office buildings intrinsic quality, providing guidance on how to achieve a benchmarked standard, or a comparative tool to evaluate the relative quality of multiple buildings and facilitate best-value decisions based on both cost and quality. Rider Levett Bucknall l Life services are complementary and interoperable. Each service can be used independently, as a full suite, or in any combination. They are readily adaptable to suit your specific requirements.

RE lifing

Every building has a useful life span which is dependent upon the physical attributes of the building as well as the needs of the building users. Once a building has aged, owners are faced with the decision to repair, renovate, or replacea decision that is not always clear-cut or simple.
Rider Levett Bucknalls proprietary RElifing service is a mathematically-based methodology to help building owners capture the remaining value and extend the life of their buildings after years of service.

How does it work? RElifing determines the useful life of a building by analyzing the cost and service life of its various componentsstructure, external claddings, internal fit-out, and building systems. From this, we can calculate the total life expectancy.

RElifing then analyzes and prices the recommendations for maintenance, upgrades, renovation, and replacement of various building components necessary to extend the buildings life expectancy to certain milestones. When this analysis is compared with the cost to build new, owners are presented with a quantitative tool to determine which investment option will make the best use of functional and financial resources.

Identifies how much your building is worth and how much life it has remaining Informs and prioritizes your capital improvement program development, identifying when and where you can spend money most effectively Supports decisions on whether to renovate, modify, or build new Demonstrates your fiscal responsibility in an era of tight budgets Defines cost and program of scheduled maintenance and component replacement for forecasting capital expenditure Identifies areas of building code and safety non-compliance in existing structures Maximizes the life of your existing resources as a sustainability measure Provides cost-based valuation assistance for depreciation schedules

Benefits

Case Study

In 2002, the State of Arizona was in the midst of a budget crunch and State legislators were searching for innovative ways to save money. Rider Levett Bucknall worked in partnership with lawmakers to introduce the RElifing methodology as a tool for determining whether to fund a replacement building. The resultant bill was adopted as Arizona state legislation in 2004 and endorsed by the American Legislative Exchange Council as model legislation for all 50 states. Over a six-month period in 2004, RElifing studies were conducted on 80 Arizona State buildings, including those for the Arizona Department of Administration, Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, Arizona State Hospital, and Arizona School Facilities Board. Not only did this analysis result in a more sustainable approach to development for the state, but it also saved Arizona taxpayers over $26 million during those six months.

State of Arizona

In 2004, a new, larger State Medical Laboratory was built, leaving no use for the existing 27,100 square foot building constructed in 1976. Through a RElifing study, including an inspection of the current condition of various building components and their life expectancies, Rider Levett Bucknall determined that investment of approximately $4.9 million would allow continued use of the building for another 35 years. Additionally, during field investigation it was noted the external faade of the building comprised pre-cast windowless concrete panels which were bolted to the slab edges. Rider Levett Bucknall recommended removing these already-failing panels and converting this existing laboratory into an office building for the adjoining technology building, which was overcrowded and in need of additional office space.

Arizona State Medical Laboratory Building

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Life Cycle Cost + Carbon Modeling

Rider Levett Bucknalls Life Cycle Cost + Carbon Modeling service is our response to the challenges property owners face in reconciling commercial viability with efficiency, sustainability, and environmental sensitivity throughout a structures life cycle. Using our model, owners can develop facilities which are not only cost effective to build but operationally efficient over their life span.
Sophisticated owners recognize that the capital cost of a facility may be less significant when compared with the total cost of ownership over time. An integrated Life Cycle Cost model enables capital and life cycle characteristics of individual components, elements, and whole buildings to be modeled and forecasted over the life of a proposed facility. Interdependencies between variables are established and comparison of multiple options provides a frame of reference for making important long-term investment decisions. The model can also be used to calculate carbon footprint, LEED, energy and CO2 consumption, water consumption, and capital allowances. This approach also helps owners with separately funded capital and operating budgets to understand the long term impact of capital decisions. The Rider Levett Bucknall model can be used at all stages of the asset life cycle from inception, through design development, and into operation. In the case of most buildings, capital cost represents less than 25% of the total cost of ownership.

Supports more informed business decisions regarding what to build, where to build, and when to build Provides insights for design decisions regarding form, specification, systems, and components, all based on a whole life cost basis Optimizes capital and operational budgets Identifies projected annual costs of operations, maintenance, and replacement as a budget planning tool Facilitates continuous improvement on future projects Quantitatively evaluates use of renewable energy solutions such as biomass, photo-voltaic cells, and wind turbines Provides decision-making support to sustainability and CSR initiatives and programs

Benefits

Case Study

Lake Washington School District

Covering 76 square miles and supporting close to 24,000 students, Lake Washington School District is the public school district for Kirkland, Redmond, and part of Sammamish, just east of Seattle, Washington. The district manages 3.2 million square feet of building property, including 51 elementary, junior high, and high schools. Since 2007, Rider Levett Bucknall has been working with the Lake Washington School District to develop a Life Cycle Cost model for its medium- and long-range bond planning. Populated using operating and maintenance data from several schools that have been recently constructed, the model indicated that a minimal increase in the capital cost of the building can produce a large savings throughout its useful life.

$650 million in savings

Utilizing input for a sample school project, a Life Cycle Cost model indicated that capital expenditure of $2.1 million could result in a savings of nearly $25 million over the 50-year life cycle of the property (a little over $5 million in net present value). If applied to determine design decisions for future schools, this model could save the district approximately $650 million in operational, maintenance, and replacement costs over 50 years.

Energy Usage and Carbon Emissions

The Life Cycle Cost model contains data related to the insulating properties of the school, typical exterior temperatures for the region, and occupancy loads. From this data, the heat loss of the building is determined, which in turn enables calculation of the energy use and carbon dioxide emissions of the building.

For more information please visit www.rlb.com/life

Building Quality Assessment

There is a critical link between the quality of a building and its ultimate performance as an asset. Yet, there is no prevailing rating system in place to measure a facilitys relative strengths and weaknesses in relation to industry standards and tenant expectations.
Our Building Quality Assessment service addresses this need with a standardized method for quantifying and evaluating building quality based on 54 standard criteria across 14 categories. The service provides a quality grade for a specific facility based on its physical characteristics and an apples to apples comparative analysis against other similar structures. The analysis highlights categories where the facility did not perform to the expected standards of quality and identifies areas where upgraded capacity or utility could be considered to enhance the grading performance of the building. This evaluation enables the optimization of the right mix of quality factors to match investor, owner, and user objectives. In 2006, Rider Levett Bucknall and others assisted the Property Council of Australia in creating A Guide to Office Building Quality for grading quality of existing offices and providing design standards for new offices.

Quick and cost effective assessment Recommendations to achieve benchmarked standards Identification of areas of deficiency with regards to quality, health and safety Aid in strategic property decisions Prioritization of future spending

Benefits

For more information please visit www.rlb.com/life

think ahead.

For more information please visit www.rlb.com/life

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