School of the Built Environment

D39CC Design Cost Planning and Control

Tutorial Activity: Week 2 and 4 (Suggested total session time 4 hours)

Unit 2: BCIS

Purpose of the Session:

The session is for the students to test their understanding of how to use the BCIS service, by students exploring a wide range of BCIS cost data and adjusting the cost information to provide an accurate cost limit to the client. Through a simulated client brief students will be able to demonstrate their ability to properly source, use and update a BCIS analysis for cost planning purposes.

Session 1

  • Read and understand the content of the following client brief, you are acting as a cost consultant to the client.

Client’s Brief: Sports Centre

The client is Fife Regional Council, who requires a community sports hall to be constructed for a school in Dunfermline. The single storey sports facility must be capable of accommodating a sports hall, fitness room and the necessary ancillary accommodation including; changing rooms, toilets, medical room, office, reception area, café/refreshment area and plant room.

External works to include; site works, precast concrete, brick and macadam paving, steel mesh fencing, services, drainage and floodlighting. The building is to comprise predominantly on one storey with a total area, in the region, of 1400 – 1600 m2. The sports centre is to be built using a steel frame with a pitched profiled metal roof covering and edge trim.

26 October 2006

  • Discuss your understanding of the brief.
  • Explain the process of how to go about putting a cost limit together.
  • Use the BCIS analyses table below, get them to up date costs for time and location.

Analysis / TPI / Location Factor / £/m2 / GFA / % Prelims / % Contin.
17642 London / 131
3Q96 / 1.19 / £621.09 / 1679 / 14 / 3
17978 Birmingham / 137
2Q97 / 0.95 / £693.90 / 900 / 11 / 3
17307 Worcester / 140
3Q97 / 0.97 / £765.50 / 1520 / 11 / 2
18807 Martley / 146
4Q98 / 0.93 / £802.59 / 1580 / 9 / 1
18900 Ledbury / 148
3Q98 / 0.93 / £934.36 / 1910 / 13 / 2
18328 Wiltshire / 147
2Q98 / 0.98 / £980.83 / 1557 / 12 / 3
18432 Portsmouth / 134
1Q97 / 1.02 / £1,190.70 / 665 / 4 / 4
19423 Hampshire / 147
1Q99 / 1.05 / £1,650.56 / 477 / 28 / 3

Current TPI4Q96 237 (forecast)Location factor0.96, Dunfermline, Fife

  • Using the BCIS Cost Analyses for the projects indicated in the table above ( see VISION) Open Analysis 1 – input the information for BCIS historical analysis being used and their updated costs.
  • Examine the costs presented in Analysis 1 in more detail for comparability between the client brief and the historical cost analyses.
  • Look at prices carefully are there any similarities? Does that mean that the historical projects are similar in nature?
  • Get the students to identify comparability factors across the historical projects (Create table some aspects pre prepared)
  • Issue BCIS Analyses to groups of 4 to 6 students and get them to find the comparability factors
  • Each group to report their finding to class – complete an overall table summarising the findings from the groups.
  • Factors should include the following: Prelims %, Contingency %, construction, contract type etc. Students can refer to the BCIS worked example from the lecture.

Session 2

  • Based upon the conclusions drawn from the comparability of the historical analyses identify the two most appropriate BCIS Analyses from the six to use.
  • Provide a rationale for their choices and for the Analyses that they feel are least appropriate for use in this cost planning exercise.
  • Open Analysis 2 – Go through the process of completing Analyses 2 for both one of the chosen updated historical analysis.
  • Open Analysis 3, complete the spreadsheet. Make use of the BCIS worked example from the lecture.

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