A Look at MyCREST's Focus on Life Cycle Assessment

Reading Time: ~10 minutes

Key Takeaway: The emphasis of MyCREST on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) highlights how buildings impact the environment across their full lifetime—and how integrating LCA in the construction sector can drive smarter design, build and operate decisions.

Introduction

Problem: Many construction projects focus only on initial costs and energy usage during operations, neglecting the full lifecycle—what about materials, construction, waste, end-of-life?
Agitation: Without that full view, you risk hidden impacts, missed savings, even failing sustainability goals. You might be building “green” on paper but blind in reality.
Solution: In this post, we’ll take “A Look at MyCREST’s Focus on Life Cycle Assessment” in plain terms—breaking down what LCA means in the context of MyCREST, why it matters, and how you can use these ideas right now to make better decisions in your projects.

Summary Box:

• What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and why MyCREST emphasises it

• How MyCREST integrates LCA across design, construction, operation & maintenance

• Key benefits and challenges of applying LCA under MyCREST

• Practical steps organisations can take to align with MyCREST’s LCA focus

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What the Focus on “A Look at MyCREST’s Focus on Life Cycle Assessment” means

When we say “A Look at MyCREST’s Focus on Life Cycle Assessment”, we are looking at how MyCREST (the Malaysian Carbon Reduction & Environmental Sustainability Tool) includes LCA in its framework for buildings and infrastructure. Construction Industry Development Board+2Cream+2

What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in simple terms

• LCA is a way to measure environmental impacts of a building from start to finish: from material extraction, manufacturing, construction, use, through to demolition or reuse.

• Rather than just looking at energy use when the building is operating, LCA looks at everything that contributes to environmental impact.

• It helps you ask: “What are all the hidden or future impacts of this building decision?”

How MyCREST uses LCA

• MyCREST integrates life-cycle linked performance and parameters—meaning it doesn’t just look at operational energy, but also embodied carbon, materials, construction, disposal. Construction Industry Development Board+1

• It divides project phases: Design, Construction, Operation & Maintenance. Each phase has tools, scorecards, calculators. Construction Industry Development Board+1

• It uses a carbon calculator for each phase to quantify impacts. For example: how much embodied carbon is in structural elements. My IEM+1

• MyCREST raises awareness of lifecycle impacts of the built environment. Construction Industry Development Board+1

Why this focus matters

• Because many decisions early in design or procurement lock-in impacts for decades. If you choose a high-impact material, you live with that cost in carbon, resources, and possibly regulation.

• It supports better sustainability outcomes: when you consider full lifecycle you get smarter material choices, longer asset life, better reuse/disposal practices.

• It aligns with regulatory and market expectations: MyCREST supports national goals on low-carbon, sustainable cities. Construction Industry Development Board+1

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How organisations can apply “A Look at MyCREST’s Focus on Life Cycle Assessment”

Here are practical steps to embed LCA thinking under MyCREST’s framework.

Step 1: Early design and planning

• At project inception, include LCA targets: e.g., “Reduce embodied carbon by X % compared to baseline”. Scribd+1

• Engage stakeholders (designers, contractors, asset owners) in a workshop to identify life-cycle impacts.

• Use MyCREST’s scorecards for design stage (pre-design, design) to capture lifecycle criteria. Construction Industry Development Board

Step 2: Material and construction decisions

• In procurement and specification, include criteria for embodied carbon, recyclability, durable materials.

• Use MyCREST carbon calculator to quantify structural elements, material impacts. Scribd+1

• Choose contractors who understand lifecycle thinking (waste reduction, reuse, efficient construction).

Step 3: Operation & maintenance

• Consider lifecycle cost, not just upfront cost: maintenance, replacement, disposal.

• Use MyCREST operation & maintenance tools and scorecards. Construction Industry Development Board

• Monitor energy use, but also material degradation, replacement cycles, waste at end of life.

Step 4: Review & continual improvement

• After project completion or during operation, measure actual life-cycle outcomes vs targets.

• Feed these results back into procurement, design and maintenance policies.

• Use MyCREST certification results and lessons learned to improve future projects.

Benefits you can expect

• Lower carbon emissions over full building life span.

• Better lifecycle cost savings (less frequent replacements, fewer waste costs).

• Improved sustainability credentials and compliance.

• Enhanced stakeholder confidence, especially as regulation tightens around lifecycle impacts.

Challenges to be aware of

• Accurate data can be hard to get for embodied carbon and end-of-life disposal.

• Upfront cost may appear higher when you specify higher-performance or lower-impact materials.

• Requires collaboration across disciplines: design, procurement, operations.

• Need to set meaningful targets and track them through lifecycle phases.

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Real-world snapshot

To illustrate “A Look at MyCREST’s Focus on Life Cycle Assessment” in action, here are hypothetical snapshots:

• A commercial building project uses MyCREST tools at design phase. They set a target: reduce embodied carbon by 15 % compared to baseline. They used low-carbon concrete, recycled steel, and modular components. Outcome: they achieved 12 % reduction and fewer onsite waste streams.

• An institutional building focused on its operation phase: they selected HVAC and lighting equipment with longer lifespans and easy recyclability. Using MyCREST operation scorecard they tracked waste and replacement cycles and found 20 % fewer replacements over five years vs prior projects.

These show how lifecycle thinking under MyCREST adds value.

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Key insights and takeaways

• Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is central to MyCREST’s design: considering materials, construction, operation and end-of-life.

• Early planning and specification set the tone: decisions made at design lock-in impacts.

• Procurement, construction practices and operations all matter—not just energy during use.

• Metrics and tools (scorecards, calculators) provided by MyCREST help quantify and manage impacts.

• Organisations that embed lifecycle thinking stand to gain in carbon, cost and sustainability credentials.

• Collaboration across teams and good data are vital — lack of either is a risk.

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Final thoughts and call to action

In summary, taking “A Look at MyCREST’s Focus on Life Cycle Assessment” shows that sustainability isn’t just about running a building efficiently—it’s about making choices from day one that impact the entire life of that building. By aligning design, procurement, construction, operation and end-of-life practices with MyCREST’s lifecycle emphasis, you position your organisation for better outcomes: fewer emissions, lower costs, stronger reputation. Ready to embed lifecycle thinking in your next project or want help navigating MyCREST’s tools and processes? Reach out via WhatsApp or call 013 300 6284 — let’s talk about how to make this real for you.