The BCIS proposed data structure for a Standard Form of Civil Engineering Cost Analysis (SFCECA) is now out for consultation.

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My last two blogs have been a bit down beat so it is great to report on the recent BCIS 50th anniversary event which was a pure joy.

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BCIS ran a series of seminars recently covering Life Cycle Costing, Reinstatement Costs, Cost Planning and Carbon Counting.

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Well not worried exactly but I could not resist the Mrs Dale's Diary allusion*.

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While drafting the foreword to the BCIS/RICS BIM survey1 with David Bucknall, I committed one of my, all too frequent, spelling mistakes by heading it 'Forward'.

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A couple of straws in the wind set me thinking.

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The Treasury's Infrastructure UK (IUK) are to set up an Infrastructure Data Group* to consider means to capture post project cost information to extend the use of benchmarking in setting target cost.

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I was at Ecobuild recently to give a paper on embodied carbon. I was amazed at the size of the exhibition, spread over two halls at Excel in Docklands, the organisers have certainly tapped into the sustainability zeitgeist.

What struck me wandering round was that sustainability is pushing technology at both ends of the scale. From rammed earth and straw bale walls at one end to PV panels and sophisticated controls at the other. Judging by the throng around the stands it wasn't just me that found demonstrations of the former more interesting than static displays of the latter. There is still something elemental about the physical process of building.

My paper on Life Cycle Costing and Life Cycle embodied carbon was part of the RICS organised series of seminars.
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The paper discusses some of the problems involved in counting embodied carbon - what to count and how to count it. It also suggests that we should do it in the same way that we count costs, but that to do this the available data needs to be transformed.

I haven't done the sums but I would bet that the rammed earth and straw bales win out in the embodied carbon stakes too.

You can view the presentation by following this link

One of the 'Christmas presents' that was awaiting me when I returned to work this week was the Treasury's Infrastructure UK (IUK) report 'Infrastructure Cost Review' which was published in December just in time for Santa to put it in his sack.

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I sat on a plane at Heathrow for seven and a half hours on Saturday because of two hours of, admittedly heavy, snow.

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