LIFETIME: Lifetime engineering of buildings and civil infrastructures

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 01.0375-2

Key words (English)

Economic Aspects; Environmental Protection; Industrial Manufacture; Innovation; Technology Transfer; Safety

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: G1RT-CT-2002-05082

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 5. Frame Research Programme - 1.3.1 Innovative products, processes and organization

Short description (English)

See abstract

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise:
EPF Lausanne
Département de Génie civil
LAVOC Laboratoire des voies de circulation

Abstract (English)

The overall objective of the LIFETIME Thematic Network is to contribute to European and world-wide development of a more sustainable built environment. The Network will involve all key stakeholders of buildings and civil infrastructures, including mining, whose activities concern investment planning, design, facility management and maintenance, reuse and recycling. The network will focus on application of lifetime principles into these areas. The aim is to help to activate on this issue national, European and even world-wide development processes, which will continue in a long perspective still after the Network. The LIFETIME Network will deal with roles and actions of all key stakeholders. The objectives will be reached with world-wide discussions, information exchange and Workshop meetings between stakeholders.

Lifetime engineering is an innovative idea and a concretisation of this idea for solving the dilemma that currently exists between very long-term infrastructures and current short-term approach to design, management and maintenance planning. The integrated lifetime engineering methodology concerns the development and use of technical performance parameters to optimise and guarantee through the life cycle, the requirements arising from human conditions, economy, cultural and ecological considerations. With the aid of lifetime engineering we thus can control and optimise the human conditions (safety, health and comfort), the monetary (financial) economy and the economy of the nature (ecology). The LIFETIME Network will deal with roles and actions of all stakeholders involved in all the phases of lifetime.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 01.0375-2