ABSTRACT
There are probably relatively few cases where a client specifies an unequivocal design life for construction work which he commissions. This may simply be lack of sophistication, but more likely a commercial developer may plan to sell the building at an early stage, or in the absence of reliable data on service life and maintenance costs of various forms of construction, a client may take the easy option of accepting contemporary norms of quality. The latter may also apply in the public sector although for some types of public sector facilities a probable service life can be foreseen.
