Technical life of built assets

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

Technical life refers to the actual time that the element may be in service until a defined minimum acceptable state is reached.

The building owner and/or the facilities management team may be concerned with the technical life of elements, as costs and management time are likely to escalate as more maintenance issues arise beyond the expected technical life.

However, as there is no general legally-agreed definition of technical 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.

Other definitions include:

• Design life.
• Required life.
• Functional life.
• Economic life.

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[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

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