Enhanced Life-Cycle-Costing in wood construction by novel methods for service life planning
Coordinator: Philip Bester van Niekerk, University of Göttingen (Uni-Göttingen), Germany
philipbester.niekerk (at) uni-goettingen.de
Other partners: EE, NO, SE, SI
Duration: 2022-2025 (to be confirmed)
Project objective: The overall objective of WoodLCC is to enable robust and precise Life-Cycle-Costing (LCC) based on input from novel models for detailed service life performance specification for wooden components and buildings. The project will take full advantage of results from novel methods for detailed service life performance specification established through extensive research over the last years on dose/response functions for exterior wood elements. The novelty of WoodLCC is to optimise the input data for LCC for wood-based building products.
Abstract:
WoodLCC aimed to improve service life (SL) models for wood-based building components and integrate them into life cycle cost (LCC) analyses. The project addressed key aspects of the life cycle of timber buildings, including degradation, maintenance, moisture risks, limit states and cost analysis, with the goal of making service life planning more practical and efficient.
Building on previous work such as CLICKdesign, WoodLCC developed more automated approaches for service life calculations at component level and integrated the modelling framework into Building Information Modelling (BIM). This enables service life and cost considerations to be incorporated more effectively into the design of timber buildings.
The project resulted in several practical prototypes, including an Excel-based tool for predicting moisture content and technical service life, a tool for calculating life cycle costs, and a plug-in for Revit enabling analysis of the cost development of wooden buildings over time. The results support more reliable decisions on durability, maintenance and costs and may contribute to future building regulations, standards and procurement practices.
Advancing timber construction through smarter service life models and sustainable cost solutions.