Mott MacDonald, the global management, engineering and development consultancy has launched the first online construction cost and carbon tool, CapIT, with endorsement from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

CapIT is a single resource for civil engineering and building data, containing all carbon and cost data from the ICE CESMM3 Carbon & Price Book and Hutchins UK Building Blackbook. In addition to these two key reference data sources, subscribers to CapIT also have the ability to add their own items or change the data to make it applicable to their own procurement and framework arrangements. This level of flexibility has been designed to allow users greater auditability and confidence in the estimating process.

Optioneering the carbon and cost impacts of using different suppliers, in a simple way, is an important functionality of the CapIT system. Using the snapshot tool the user can quickly appraise different design options and identify the best solution considering both cost and carbon values.


The databases are updated on a quarterly basis allowing the user to keep on top of the latest price movements. There are also regional specific libraries to choose from, so that users can make sure the price is right for the region they are estimating for. The online tool which has been endorsed by, and refined in collaboration with the ICE, also allows users to download the data to integrate seamlessly into existing working practices and systems. Users wanting to tailor the report format can download the data into Microsoft Excel and format it to a style that suits.

CapIT designer James Fiske, who heads-up the economic research unit in Mott MacDonald's cost consultancy Franklin + Andrews, is delighted that the tool is now to be made available to the industry at large. "With incoming legislation, the measurement and reduction of embodied carbon is going to play an increasingly important part in construction projects over the forthcoming years.

"By offering data and a measurement system at a low cost we hope to help the construction industry in its evolution to quantify both cost and carbon in an easy and consistent manner. By linking the measurement process of cost and carbon together in CapIT, we also hope to introduce more efficiency to the industry. Currently on construction projects separate teams would be measuring twice to quantify cost and carbon, users of CapIT now only need to measure once to output both.

"By bringing CapIT to market, we hope it will help the construction industry reduce its impact on the environment and in some way help meet the government's commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050,” commented James. “We’ve worked hard to ensure that CapIT is easy to use and can be tailored to suit all aspects of the construction industry supply chain."

(CD/GK)