ABSTRACT
This paper refers to a series of investigations into the life of components in buildings and describes how a project was undertaken in the Facilities Management Research Unit at the University of the West of England. As a result of earlier work in the field by the authors, a Teaching Company project was set up which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the UK in conjunction with Building Performance Services of London. The paper describes the progress up to date and evaluates some aspects of the methodology of the research project and discusses some of the factors relating to reliability of forecast lives. The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution to this work of Paul Wornell, managing Director of Construction Audit Ltd and Gary Moss, Teaching Associate based at UWE.
