Better designed buildings: improving the valuation of intangibles
Eclipse Research Consultants
June 2005
This completed project was supported by the DTI under the Partners in Innovation programme, with partners in the project including CIC, CABE, RICS, RIBA, BIFM. Its starting point was that while the construction industry knows a lot about measuring costs, far less is known about how to quantify the intangible benefits associated with design quality.
The project examined the need for new or improved valuation methods that take account of these intangible outcomes and identified that the development of such methods should lead to more explicit consideration of the varied contribution and impacts of buildings.
Better valuation methods have the potential to release investment into the built environment, bringing with it higher design quality and better outcomes. At best, new methods will raise the level of debate about the contribution of the built environment to economic prosperity, social well-being, and cultural vitality, enhancing the industry's reputation and leading both to greater public trust and respect, and to a more equitable level of risk and reward.
Further information, including a more detailed report, can be obtained from Sebastian Macmillan, Eclipse Research Consultants, Cambridge.
Email: s.macmillan@btconnect.com|
Report of the Be/nCRISP Value Task Group
March 2005
The Value Task Group's mission statement was to communicate a strategy by which the built environment industry can add value to customers and society by shaping and delivering a sustainable environment and high quality of life.
This report sets out a programme of short and medium term research needs that will deepen understanding and support further development of these drivers. It seeks to identify a research agenda and to contribute to the building and maintaining of a community of inquiry and innovation in practice -ranging across practitioners, policy makers and academics- to broaden conceptions of value in decision making about the built environment.
The Real Budget for Research: an analysis of current levels of public funding for built environment research
November 2004
This is a joint study undertaken by CABE and nCRISP, addressing key questions about the current state of research funding into the built environment. Who is setting the agenda for research in construction and design? Who is funding this research? And how much funding is there?
The study makes a number of recommendations to encourage more effective use of the funding that exists, the development of a shared understanding of common research agendas, and steps to develop a more robust argument for enhancing the funding for built environment research.
For a PDF version of the report, visit the CABE| website.
An institutional analysis of research in architecture in the UK higher education sector: Balancing three dimensions in architectural research: depth, breadth and length
October 2004
Paul Jenkins, Leslie Forsyth and Harry Smith
The main objective of this research project is to investigate to what extent innovation and excellence in research in architecture in the UK higher education sector has been influenced by institutional factors, what these factors are, the nature of their influence and what can be recommended for an improved institutional context.
The research also provides an overview of architectural research across the UK. A companion report is available which contains the findings from a study covering all the Scottish schools of architecture.
For a PDF version of the full report, visit http://www.scotmark.eca.ac.uk/?view=3| , under Reports, see UK Architecture Research Study.