The contribution of Quantity Surveyors to more sustainable construction designs

KOSMOS is celebrating Green Friday every day. We have joined the movement of change and solution oriented deliveries. This week , we are promoting solutions that we offer to the construction industry, to achieve greener, cleaner, better environmentally performing and more sustainable solutions often discarded on projects due to their apparent capital cost, but what about the circular cost benefits.

There is a better way of doing things, and we are determined to assist with our professional knowledge to achieve this change in the industry.

So, how can we in KOSMOS help construction projects to make this turn? Quantity surveyors can bring their commercial knowledge to projects in order to:

Optimize the budget to allow sustainable solutions in the design

Having a solid idea of the actual project costs, allows to distribute the budget in a more optimal and efficient way. This brings the possibility of implementing green solutions, better environmental performance systems, sustainable and clean materials that would have otherwise been considered a luxury or a risk for the overall project economy due to its higher cost.

Estimate the cost of greener alternatives, to facilitate decision making

The potential time extension of the execution or the design when implementing new solutions can be assessed and estimated, so that a decision of whether or not taking those greener alternatives into the project can be taken based on facts and acknowledging the consequences. The values gained by circular economic investigations can have a great impact on the projects lifecycle and OPEX costs.

Prevent quality reduction and downgrading of sustainable design due to costs overruns

Better control of the project economy prevents cost overruns. A project with a solid economy won’t have surprises in the late stages, when cost reductions are mostly limited to reduction of quality, and replacing sustainable solutions for alternative less capitally expensive ones.

Analyse the life cycle of products

It is possible to determine the cost of more durable alternatives, and the return of investment of it. Having this analysis, it is possible to enlarge the life of the product chosen in the design, not focusing this choice purely on its initial capital costs. Incorporating alternative models of procurement can also reduce initial capital expenses and transfer these costs into the operations over a longer period through supply, maintain and replace contracts.

Cross-industry recycling

Looking at products and materials from cross-industry perspective. Waste in one industry or one project could be a supply source in other industry or project. This helps to reduce cost of disposal, supply, CO2 emission, and to optimize the lifespan of products.