Client: District government of Düsseldorf

Project duration: 01/2023 - 12/2024

In view of the traffic turnaround in cities, the increasing complexity of construction projects (construction methods, building materials, construction processes) and the increasing demands on the recovery of recyclable materials in terms of the circular economy, new challenges arise for the optimization of construction logistics. In city centers in particular, construction site supply must be just-in-time due to the limited availability of space and the resulting lack of storage space. Transportation usually takes place using heavy trucks and delivery vans. The recycling and disposal of waste generated on the construction site is part of waste disposal logistics. The increasing demands on the recovery of materials pose a particular challenge. The construction site equipment area also plays a central role. It serves logistically as a handling and storage area, temporarily occupies public traffic areas in densely built-up inner cities and thus indirectly determines the traffic and emission-related effects of a construction project in the execution phase. The size of the construction site area and the location of access roads is also the central control instrument of the city administration, which can be used to influence construction processes and traffic effects during the planning permission procedure. To date, there have been no detailed studies on the potential for optimizing construction logistics in terms of reducing heavy goods traffic and pollutant emissions. It is therefore unclear which approaches on the part of the client, the approval authorities and the construction logistics service providers offer optimization potential for construction logistics.

The aim of the research project is to identify potential ways in which truck traffic for the supply and disposal of inner-city building construction sites can be reduced. The focus here is on the evaluation of new, previously unavailable logistics data from digital building and construction process documentation. As a result, practical recommendations for action will be derived, which will serve as a basis for those involved in construction logistics, such as construction management, external construction logistics service providers, approval authorities and building owners, to organize construction logistics on inner-city building construction sites in a traffic and environmentally friendly manner and to leverage optimization potential.

The research project is being carried out in collaboration with the Institute for Digital Processes in the Construction and Real Estate Industry / BIM Institute, SiteLog GmbH and Zeppelin Rental GmbH.