Abstract
The significance of cost effectiveness in sustainable design has heightened over the past ten years due to the need for reducing building operational expenses and improving environmental quality. This paper determines life-cycle cost over a 20-year period for eleven external facade systems from seven Australian capital cities. Factors affecting life-cycle expenditure in implementing external facade systems of commercial buildings are considered, including construction cost, space heating and cooling cost, maintenance cost and rental loss due to the thickness of external facade systems. The most cost-effective external facade system is identified for each city. Double-glazing facade is found to be the most cost-effective system in Sydney; however, masonry-veneer facade performs the best overall. This paper can provide insight for commercial design teams in designing buildings with cost-effectiveness and sustainable throughout its life-cycle and highlight the importance of a holistic cost review at design stage in ensuring client satisfaction.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1917 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Sustainability |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Jun 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 by the authors.
Open Access - Access Right Statement
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Keywords
- Australia
- commercial buildings
- exterior walls
- facades
- sustainable design