Economic life of a building

Several definitions have been developed to assess or specify the life of buildings, structures and their components, from the perspective of different stakeholders.

Economic life refers to the amount of time an element is in service before its replacement is more advantageous economically than the continued maintenance that will be required to keep it in service.

Economic life may be a key consideration of owners, particularly if they are managing the an asset from which they wish to ensure an adequate return on the investment they have made by purchasing or building it and operating it.

However, as there is no general legally-agreed definition of economic life, if it is to be included in contract documentation as a performance requirement, it is important that it is carefully defined within those contract documents and that it is consistent with all other requirements in the contract documents.

NB BG 87/2024, Useful Information Guide, written by Chin Hang “Kay” Lam and published by BSRIA in 2024, defines economic life as: ‘The estimated number of years until an item no longer represents the least expensive method of performing its function.’

Other definitions of life include:

• Design life.
• Required life.
• Technical life.
• Functional life.
• Service life.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Concept structural design of buildings.
• Decommissioning.
• Demolition.
• Design quality for buildings.
• End of life potential.
• Fitness for purpose.
• Life.
• Life cycle assessment.
• Service life.
• Structures at the end of their design life.
• Useful life.
• Utilising life cycle costing and life cycle assessment.
• Whole-life costs.