I was bemused by Ian Ellingham鈥檚 鈥渙pen mike鈥� column (23 October, page 33)

He seemed to be arguing that we should completely ignore the future cost ramifications of new buildings because they are difficult to predict.

He also seemed to believe you cannot give early cost advice on lifecycle costs. Of course you can 鈥� you can provide an estimate for cost in use, alongside a capital cost, and use it to inform the design process.

We cannot continue to construct buildings without considering their future. If we do not plan at all, we are completely at the mercy of the god of unintended consequences.

The ISO standard and its UK supplement, Standardised Method of Lifecycle Costing for Construction Performance, are attempts to help people get to grips with lifecycle costing. Will it be right? No, the future is unknowable. Is that an argument for not doing it? Of course it isn鈥檛.

As political thinker Edmund Burke once said: 鈥淣obody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little.鈥�

Joe Martin, BCIS executive director, RICS

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