Short Term ‘Wins’, But at What Long Term Cost?

There’s always been an element in construction projects of balancing long and short term benefits. But where does the balance lie at a time when net zero carbon and whole life value are in the spotlight?

The most obvious short term ‘win’ is to opt for the cheapest possible build. If upfront cost is the main selection criterion not much else matters. The fact that the building will be harder to heat, have more defects and cost more to maintain doesn’t come into it. The cost of retrofitting to achieve net zero carbon performance is also an issue for another day.

Fortunately most procurement processes have moved on from a simplistic ‘lowest bid wins’ approach. But have we moved far enough so that assured building performance, quality and maintenance costs have sufficient weighting? And when it comes to the crunch, does short term cost still win the day?

Carbon Costs

Similarly with carbon costs. You can focus narrowly on operational carbon or take a whole-life approach. For the whole-life approach you have to calculate embodied carbon emissions generated by the extraction, processing and transport of construction materials.

The carbon cost of maintaining the building in service also has to be factored-in. And you also have to understand what happens at the end of the building’s life. Can it be easily dismantled so that components and materials can be reused or recycled?

Buildings are becoming more energy efficient and the grid that supplies them is progressively converting to low or zero carbon generation. So the embodied carbon calculation will become more important.

With operational carbon and energy efficiency you have to look beyond modelled or promised performance. If you’re concerned with the long term you also have to investigate real-world and verifiable data.

System build solutions bring the benefit of repeatability and a standardised product. With this you get assured quality and performance. Whether it’s U values, airtightness or thermal bridging, manufactured construction offers guarantees that traditional construction has struggled to deliver.

The point about short-termism is that there is a bill to be picked up by somebody, some time in the future. If you’re building with long-term value and carbon reduction in mind, system build products like and i-FAST are the way to go.

Contact (enquiries@innovaresystems.co.uk) for more information or take a look at our resource centre.