Incremental costs within the design process for energy efficient buildings

Two demonstration programmes by the Canadian government, C-2000 and Commercial Buildings Incentive Programme (CBIP), are described with their effects of on the design and delivery process to improve the energy performance of commercial buildings. Both programmes operated on the assumption that design for high performance requires extra design time and also incur extra costs for contracted specialists and energy simulations. This was achieved through the provision of funding additional design time and providing support to the client and design team. A survey of completed projects within these programmes was undertaken to validate this assumption. Significant cost savings for clients were demonstrated at a modest and acceptable increment in design costs. The provision of modest governmental funding for the design stage has been a successful policy, with positive feedback from clients and operating cost savings offset by modest increases in capital cost or design time.