ABSTRACT
'Premises' means 'place of business' and that has connotations which are much wider than 'buildings'. The premises policy has three strategic centres: location, size, quality. Building performance is conventionally considered primarily in terms of physical integrity and durability and the associated capital and revenue costs, but the reality is that it goes infinitely deeper than that. Buildings are simply a means to an end. Many decisions to spend money on buildings in the name of higher quality or performance are not formally justified in terms of return on investment because the 'benefits' are difficult to quantify. Value management must look beyond the cost consequences of physical performance if the building design process is to have a real impact on the organisation's efficiency and hence profitability. In the case of buildings, most functional performance benefits are 'soft'. That is difficult to quantify, for example, comfort, cleanliness, ergonomic efficiency, whereas the costs of construction and service provision are 'hard' and tangible.
