ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between cost and value in construction projects, and discusses why architects should pay particular attention to their client's budgetary constraints. It describes the degree of risk which clients accept when undertaking construction projects, and the steps which designers can take to mitigate these risks. The chapter explains the discipline of the cost planning process, and the importance of the achievement of an appropriate level of fixity of design and specification at the conclusion of each RIBA project stage. The principles and techniques of value management aim to provide the required quality at optimum whole life cost during the process of developing a project. Increasingly, option studies are prepared on the basis of whole life costs, taking into account the operational dimensions of specification as well as short-term considerations based on capital cost, programme and procurement.
