A forum is to be created to share information on the whole-life costs of buildings, with the Building Research Establishment acting as a repository for the data.

The decision to create a costings database was made at a seminar last week run by the whole-life costing centre at the BRE. Delegates included representatives from BT, Davis Langdon & Everest, Gleeds, Kajima and Bovis.

The cost information will be available to forum members, but project names will be withheld to guarantee anonymity and encourage participation in the scheme.

A steering group has been set up to finalise details. It will be chaired by Brad Bamfield, group development manager at BAA.

Bamfield is about to pilot whole-life costing on three projects at Gatwick Airport. He said he will send the results of those schemes to the BRE.