Software that can help businesses minimise costs by assessing the total cost of ownership over the life of an asset, has been developed by Whole Life Consultants, a spin-out company from the University of Dundee.
Whole life costing is a business discipline that may include areas of expenditure such as planning, design, construction, operations, maintenance and disposal. The Whole Life Cost Evaluator will help asset managers and property developers to determine design solutions and maintenance strategies that minimise the total cost of any building or other type of asset for the whole of its life.
It specialises in "solving the problems that others cannot solve" in the fields of whole life costing, sustainability, maintenance management and labour productivity in the construction industry. But although the technology is primarily targeted at the construction industry, WLC says it can be applied to any sector: the products are off-the-shelf, but user-defined. Bespoke versions are also available.
WLC commercialises the research conducted by the Construction Management Research Unit (CMRU) at the University. In total, the research carried out by the Unit is estimated to be worth more than £5m. The CMRU itself is part of the Division of Civil Engineering which has consistently been rated as one of the best in Scotland.
Developing a software suite
WLC’s first licence has been purchased by Stanburys, a software development company specialising in building surveying applications and asset management. Professor Malcolm Horner, Chairman of Whole Life Consultants, said, “We are delighted that the first licence for this novel software should be purchased by such a prestigious client. This is an important step towards the company’s goal of developing a suite of cutting edge software in the fields of whole life costing, sustainability and productivity.
“We are particularly grateful to the Scottish Government whose SMART award made the development of the software affordable, and to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council who funded the original research.”
And Stanbury’s MD Roy Stanbury said: “As a company that likes to think out of the box to deliver more client value than any of our competitors, we could see the potential of Whole Life Cost Evaluator to add significantly to the value we can offer our clients. In our view, this is the most powerful software of its type available on the market.”
