Flexibility as a Strategy for Reducing Cost of Renovation in Building Construction Projects

Abstract

Flexible buildings are the need of the present society. Flexibility leads to adaptability, and adaptability of buildings has become the utmost requirement in today’s world. Flexibility is understood to be the ability to adapt to continually changing requirements and conditions of the environment. This chapter deals with a comparative study of renovation costs incurred for buildings that are flexible and buildings that are not flexible from the utility point of view. The authors have assessed 15 cases of renovation of building projects in Nagpur city in India (out of which five cases are reported). To measure the degree of flexibility of buildings, a flexibility tool has been developed. The findings of the study suggest that the buildings that have a high degree of flexibility incurred less cost for renovation as compared to the buildings that have a low degree of flexibility. This research can help in making buildings more flexible so as to reduce the future renovation costs. A building that is more flexible will be utilized more efficiently, and will be more sustainable, because it can respond to changes at a lower cost. A longer and more efficient service life for the building may, in turn, translate into improved environmental performance over the lifecycle of the building.