Keywords: high-tech, life cycle management, life cycle assessment, life cycle cost.

The development and performance of the construction industry are strongly relative with the citizens' living quality in each country. The growth of high-tech industrial facilities has been increasing as a result of recent booming in electrical and semiconductor technology markets, the construction of these facilities is still experience-based and not enough knowledge has been statistically analysed and well documented. The development of high-tech projects has already been underway for more than twenty years in Taiwan, but still several problems exist. For the best solution to solve those problems, life cycle management (LCM) and engineering techniques can be one of the most useful tools. The algorithm of LCM was first announced in Europe, and especially used in the engineering industry [1]. It combines the design method and an idea of securing the environment and to proceed with the best project planning. "Life-cycle" design considers the whole period of the buildings and facilities from the initial evaluation stage, the project planning and the design stage, the construction and installation stages, the operation and maintenance stages, the renewal and renovation stages, to the demolishing stage. LCM is an overall consideration of the idea of management, from the proper diagnosis and appraisal to the land; the development and the construction to the building; efficient operation and management of the equipment and the rational way to keep and save the budget [2].

During the initial planning stage, it is necessary to evaluate the impact to the third party and the surroundings. This kind of the consideration for the environment is called life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is makes an assessment and calculation for the structure itself and the outer environment within the life cycle of a construction project [3]. For example, one of the most popular methods is to evaluate and analyze the material requirements and CO₂ emission accompanied with the high-tech construction project's life cycle. Furthermore, high-tech buildings and facilities must be maintained and scraped when those terms of service are finished. Accordingly, it is important to quantify material requirements and the CO₂ emissions accompanied with each step of the life cycle system of high-tech projects, and to work out countermeasures to reduce the materials consumed and the CO₂ emissions. The consumption of energy should also be considered and discussed during the operation and maintenance period of high-tech projects.

Meanwhile, engineers also should think about the total cost through the whole life-cycle period of each building and facility. The concept of life cycle cost (LCC) is the calculation and analysis of the cost with overall consideration in each phase of the project from the user side, including the initial evaluation phase, the planning and design phase, the construction and installation phase, the operation and maintenance phase, the renewal and renovation phase, and the demolition phase. The database system should be built up and modified anytime based on the experience data feed back through the long-term operation and maintenance of the high-tech project.

The idea of LCC is like an iceberg in the sea (Figure 1). LCC in buildings is the referring index for the assessment of the economical life-time of a structure. Its purpose is to enable a building to get the most favourable management state with the most appropriate investment. From the break down structure of a general construction project's LCC (Figure 2), the total cost of the maintenance period is greater than the construction cost. Hence LCC, LCA and LCM are important issues for each construction project. This paper will introduce the algorithms of LCC, LCM, and LCA. It will also illustrate several sample data sets that are retrieved from several high-tech projects. Then several practice cases will be discussed and the implementation of the construction and high-tech projects are illustrated. Finally, based on the collected sample data, a retrieving database system is developed for supporting management in the understanding of the performance of historical projects with similar project characteristics.

1

Lee-kuo Lin et al., "The Management and Assessment of Life Cycle Cost in Construction Industry", Hong Kong Institute of Value Management 7th International Conference, pp1-5. 2005.06.

2

Chih-chiang Chang and Lee-kuo Lin, "The Reach of Life Cycle Management in High-tech Project", The 9th Conference of Construction Engineering and Management, ppE3-01-15, 2005.05.

3

Chia-Hsiung Wei, "A Research on Life Cycle Management in the Renewal Plan of Building-A Case Study in International Tourist Hotel", Master Thesis, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei R.O.C., 2003.07.

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