ISO 15686-3:2002 is concerned with ensuring the effective implementation of service life planning. It describes the approach and procedures to be applied to pre-briefing, briefing, design, construction and, where required, the life care management and disposal of buildings and constructed assets to provide a reasonable assurance that measures necessary to achieve a satisfactory performance over time will be implemented.

The cost implications of service life planning and the broader issues of sustainability (e.g. embodied energy, land use) are not developed in ISO 15686-3:2002.