The Time to Shape Future Life-Cycle Costs is at the Infrastructure Planning 'Front-End'!

Life-Cycle Costing Tool for Community Infrastructure Planning 

The Life Cycle Costing Tool for Community Infrastructure Planning was created by Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation to allow a user to estimate the major costs of community development, and to compare alternative development scenarios.

“A good measure of the applicability of the Tool to a given project is whether or not alternatives can be conceived that would result in significantly different densities or infrastructure requirements, or make use of different green infrastructure alternatives,” writes Dr. Penny Burns in the February 2011 issue of her Strategic Asset Management newsletter. Based in Australia, Dr. Burns is an internationally recognized economist; and is acknowledged as the first person to write about asset management (in 1984).

“How many asset managers get involved in evaluating the life cycle costs of new planned developments? If we don’t get involved at this upfront stage, we have no opportunity to shape future life cycle costs.”

"Perhaps if new developments were only accepted when they could demonstrate that their life cycle costs would be covered by life cycle revenues or if the local community voted to subsidise the new development through increased rates, there would then be more encouragement to design sustainable developments?"

To learn more, click on Life Cycle Costing Tool for Community Infrastructure Planning to read an article posted on the Water Bucket website.

Comox Valley Regional Response to Infrastructure Liability: The initial capital cost of infrastructure is about 20% of the life-cycle cost; the other 80% largely represents a future unfunded liability. This is a driver for a change in the way local governments plan, finance, implement and over time replace infrastructure. Through the 2011 Learning Lunch Seminar Series, the four local governments in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island are collaborating to "get it right at the beginning". This can be achieved through a well-planned front-end that results in Sustainable Service Delivery. 

News Release #2011-19

April 26, 2011