Rethinking life cycle cost drivers for sustainable office buildings in Denmark

Purpose Sustainable building design suffers from a lack of reliable life cycle data. The purpose of this paper is to compare life cycle costs of sustainable building projects, examine the magnitude of various cost drivers and discuss the implications of an emerging shift in cost drivers. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on data from 21 office buildings certified in Denmark according to the sustainable certification scheme DGNB. Findings The paper supports previous findings that construction costs and running costs each roughly make up half of the life cycle costs over a 50-year period. More surprising is the finding that the life cycle costs for cleaning are approximately twice as high as the supply costs for energy and water. Originality/value This paper provides a notable contribution to the academic understanding of the significance of different cost drivers as well as the practical implementation of life cycle costing.