IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i14p8573-d861802.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Sustainability Assessment Framework for On-Site and Off-Site Construction Logistics

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolas Brusselaers

    (Department of Business Technology and Operations, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Elsene, Belgium)

  • Selamawit Mamo Fufa

    (Building and Infrastructure, SINTEF (Stiftelsen for Industriell og Teknisk Forskning), P.O. Box 124 Blindern, 0314 Oslo, Norway)

  • Koen Mommens

    (Department of Business Technology and Operations, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Elsene, Belgium)

Abstract

Urban areas pay increasing attention to new construction and infrastructure works, mainly due to the rapid global rise in urbanisation. In the long run, these works have a positive correlation with the economic and social attractiveness of cities. Construction strongly relies on logistics activities, which cannot be neglected in the environmental equation. An important aspect in tackling the negative effects of construction logistics (CL) lies in understanding the source and mitigation potential of the impacts incurred. However, currently, limited robust impact assessments are available for this sector. Given the lack of these rigorous assessments, it is difficult to evaluate the environmental criteria concerned, especially when comparing innovative CL solutions. In this paper, we present a holistic sustainability assessment framework designed for CL activities based on life cycle approaches, which covers four main iterative steps: (1) goal and scope definition, (2) data identification and availability, (3) scenario and setup evaluation and (4) environmental impact assessment. To measure both the off-site and on-site CL impact, two distinct and complementary methodologies are used: External Cost Calculations and Life Cycle Assessment. The framework was implemented on a pilot case in the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). It provides a holistic view of CL impacts for policy evaluations and implementations on the project, portfolio or city level. The results show that off-site zero-emission construction vehicles are the way forward if cities want to achieve environmental goals by 2035. However, market readiness for high-capacity vehicles must be considered. Otherwise, the positive effects on air pollution, climate change and noise are offset by a saturation of the road transport network and its associated congestion and infrastructure damage costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas Brusselaers & Selamawit Mamo Fufa & Koen Mommens, 2022. "A Sustainability Assessment Framework for On-Site and Off-Site Construction Logistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-14, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8573-:d:861802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8573/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8573/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicolas Brusselaers & Koen Mommens & Cathy Macharis, 2021. "Building Bridges: A Participatory Stakeholder Framework for Sustainable Urban Construction Logistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-33, March.
    2. Mochamad Agung Wibowo & Naniek Utami Handayani & Anita Mustikasari & Sherly Ayu Wardani & Benny Tjahjono, 2022. "Reverse Logistics Performance Indicators for the Construction Sector: A Building Project Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-21, January.
    3. Wegelius-Lehtonen, Tutu, 2001. "Performance measurement in construction logistics," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 107-116, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kayakutlu, Gulgun & Buyukozkan, Gulcin, 2011. "Assessing performance factors for a 3PL in a value chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(2), pages 441-452, June.
    2. Dandan He & Zhongfu Li & Chunlin Wu & Xin Ning, 2018. "An E-Commerce Platform for Industrialized Construction Procurement Based on BIM and Linked Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Ahmet Anil Sezer & Anna Fredriksson, 2021. "Paving the Path towards Efficient Construction Logistics by Revealing the Current Practice and Issues," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Kamal Dhawan & John E. Tookey & Ali GhaffarianHoseini & Mani Poshdar, 2023. "Using Transport to Quantify the Impact of Vertical Integration on the Construction Supply Chain: A New Zealand Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-26, January.
    5. Luis Felipe Cândido & Jose Carlos Lazaro & Adriano Olivier de Freitas e Silva & José de Paula Barros Neto, 2023. "Sustainability Transitions in the Construction Sector: A Bibliometric Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-26, August.
    6. Horta, I.M. & Camanho, A.S. & Moreira da Costa, J., 2012. "Performance assessment of construction companies: A study of factors promoting financial soundness and innovation in the industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 84-93.
    7. Jonathan Gosling & Mohamed Naim & Denis Towill & Wessam Abouarghoub & Brian Moone, 2015. "Supplier development initiatives and their impact on the consistency of project performance," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(5-6), pages 390-403, June.
    8. Menoka Bal & David Bryde & Damian Fearon & Edward Ochieng, 2013. "Stakeholder Engagement: Achieving Sustainability in the Construction Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-16, February.
    9. Schmidberger, Stephan & Bals, Lydia & Hartmann, Evi & Jahns, Christopher, 2009. "Ground handling services at European hub airports: Development of a performance measurement system for benchmarking," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 104-116, January.
    10. Barclay, Corlane & Osei-Bryson, Kweku-Muata, 2010. "Project performance development framework: An approach for developing performance criteria & measures for information systems (IS) projects," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 272-292, March.
    11. SeyedReza RazaviAlavi & Simaan AbouRizk, 2021. "Construction Site Layout Planning Using a Simulation-Based Decision Support Tool," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-25, September.
    12. Huu Tuyen Duong & Gilles Paché, 2015. "Intégration informationnelle et relationnelle au sein de la dyade chargeur / PSL : une exploration dans le contexte vietnamien," Post-Print hal-01438572, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8573-:d:861802. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.