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Materials supply is one of the important elements in construction operation and a major factor affecting the quality of construction projects. Many industries look to manage materials effectively by attempting to integrate logistics processes into logistics chains of suppliers and customers. Logistics processes, being crucial for successful completion of construction projects, but in fact, auxiliary, are often entrusted to external professionals specialised in logistic services, such as logistics centres. However, this tendency is yet to be developed in construction. The purpose of this paper is to develop a simulation framework for the examination of potential improvements of logistics performance using logistics centres.

A case study approach was adopted with computer simulation using Flexsim. Data of vehicle movements were collected during construction on-site from the start of construction to “hand-over” to the building owner.

The ideal location of a logistics centre is identified using vehicle movements data collected on the site. The potential improvements of the planned centre are then evaluated by simulating various scenarios of vehicle movements. The enclosed results from the simulations indicate that using a logistics centre will reduce waste for the construction project considered.

The paper emphasises that creating a logistics centre for a project can improve construction logistics performance, by consolidating and optimizing both off-site and on-site logistics, especially when the site condition is prohibitive (small footprint with limited loading bay area). Establishing logistics centres may help find ways of making the overall construction project more effective by improving the management of materials.

The construction industry is reluctant to utilize construction logistics centres (CLC). To understand why, the purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of drivers and challenges of CLC utilization.

Adopting an activity-based cost methodology, nine construction projects' CLC utilization in a Swedish urban development project is analyzed for a time period of three years (2013–2016).

There is a difference between drivers and challenges for implementing and utilizing CLCs, which are often implemented to reduce third-party disturbances. The drivers to utilize a CLC, however, stem from achieving efficient logistics. The authors identify two different utilization strategies; the CLC is used either for just-in-time (JIT) deliveries or as a consolidation point.

The study shows that construction logistics is to some extent repeating some mistakes of its big brother, city logistics. The study hypothesizes that there are differences between CLC implementation and utilization drivers and challenges that are often overlooked, which can explain the lack of CLC utilization.

The study shows that it is crucial for construction projects to develop and formulate a logistics strategy for how to utilize the setup, i.e. deciding whether to use the setup as a consolidation point leading to fewer deliveries and more materials on-site, or as JIT, leading to more deliveries but fewer materials on-site.

CLCs can reduce environmental impact and third-party disturbances. However, to make this come true, acceptance among the users is needed. The study provides understanding of drivers and barriers for CLC implementation and utilization that can increase acceptance among users (i.e. construction projects).

The current study is one of the first studies to analyze CLC utilization.

Although a construction logistics solution is necessary for dealing with the demands in many large urban development projects, there is a lack of research on governance mechanisms for construction logistics solutions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the initiation and utilisation of a construction logistics centre (CLC) from different stakeholders’ perspectives to suggest governance mechanisms for strategic, tactical and operational levels and to develop guidelines for implementing these governance mechanisms.

A single case research design was used. Data were collected through interviews, site visits, observations and documentation from four stakeholder groups.

There is potential for utilising CLCs in development projects, with positive effects such as consolidation effects and enhanced planning. What is evident, however, is that the design and implementation of the CLCs must be based on a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, as there are conflicting goals between stakeholders. Governance mechanisms, including flexibility in the main contractors’ working construction process, as well as clearly stated roles, responsibilities and communication must be developed to enhance this potential.

The conflicting goals of CLCs are identified and discussed, and the results show the need for further multi-stakeholder analysis of construction logistics solutions.

The experiences from the studied case are developed into practical guidelines to be used in the design of construction logistics solutions in development projects.

This study contributes by taking a multi-stakeholder perspective on CLCs and providing guidelines to be used in the design of construction logistics solutions in development projects.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse how different ways of organising transport and logistics activities in construction impact on efficiency. The paper scrutinises three particular transport and logistics configurations: the de-centralised coordinated configuration, the on-site coordinated configuration and the supply network coordinated configuration.

Three configurations are derived from the literature and from case studies. The efficiency of the three configurations is analysed on three levels of analysis: the construction site, the supply chain, and across supply chains and construction sites.

The paper concludes that there are possibilities to enhance efficiency on all three levels of analysis by widening the scope of coordination beyond the individual construction site.

The analysis points to efficiency potentials in applying the supply network coordinated configuration, although this configuration puts high demands on collaboration amongst the actors involved.

The paper provides illustration, and explanation, of the efficiency potentials involved in the three configurations.

A long-term collaborative public water infrastructure procurement contract in New Zealand adopts “Enterprise Alliance” delivery (strategy) with a Construction Consolidation Centre (CCC) (operational) logistics solution. New Zealand's unique spatial, market, regulatory and economic circumstances present a research gap pertaining to the sustainability impacts of the combinatory implementation. The paper suggests a literature review-based research framework for examining these.

Systematic literature review (SLR) discovers unique New Zealand attributes, and sustainability impacts of both the approaches overseas. Towards formulating a research framework, the paper discusses sustainability of construction and its New Zealand context, and research focus within the implemented model. Significant issues from SLR reveal Design, Logistics, Impacts and Spin-offs research domains. The paper suggests a research framework and examines an appropriate research design.

CCC implementation under a programme alliance is without precedent in New Zealand. Variance of New Zealand's unique attributes from North American and European characteristics behind successful implementation are likely to impact domestic outcomes. A research framework to test this hypothesis will enable investigating the relevance of the concepts to New Zealand settings and provide a contextual implementation datum. Implementation benchmarks will potentially influence public policy and enrich indigenous knowledge corpus, potentially transferrable to associated domains (urban planning, transportation and energy).

The paper attempts to define a research direction in the domain of applying supply chain management principles to the New Zealand's construction sector by investigating the employment of a CCC in a collaborative environment as an infrastructure project delivery vehicle with sustainability leanings.

The purpose of this study is to identify how the responsibilities and costs of planning, controlling and executing the material, resource and waste flows are shifted between actors when introducing a construction logistics setup (CLS) as a product innovation in a construction project, compared to the traditional way of organizing these activities.

This study is an analytical conceptual research study which aims to bring new insights into a problem through logical relationship building. Empirical data are gathered in two cases where CLSs are used, through observations and interviews regarding how the activities within the order-to-delivery process are performed. The results have been discussed at workshops with suppliers, installation companies, contractor firms and trade unions.

The outcome of this study is a model for illustrating how costs and responsibilities are shifted in the construction project and supply chain when a CLS is introduced. The cost shift is dependent on the activity shift that accompanies the services included in the setup.

The practical contribution of this work is twofold. First, this study provides a methodology of how to evaluate the impact of logistics services on the actors in the construction project. Second, this study shows shifts in costs and responsibilities in logistics activities with the introduction of construction logistics services.

The theoretical contributions of the model and this study lie in the inclusion of a multi-actor perspective in total cost modelling in supply chains.

The use of third-party logistics (TPL) setups in construction has increased but is still a new phenomenon. The purpose was to increase understanding of how structural and management dimensions are related in CLSs by describing how CTPL setups are used.

Ten dimensions to describe and structure CLSs were identified from the literature and used to structure a cross-case analysis of 13 Swedish CLSs.

The main findings are: (1) there are three typical initiators of CLSs: municipalities, developers and contractors; (2) CLSs are drivers for service differentiation and modularization among TPL providers as construction specific services are required; (3) CLSs play a new role in construction by coordinating logistics activities between the construction project and the vicinity of the site.

The study is based on 13 cases in the Swedish construction context. Additional studies of CLSs in other countries are needed.

The ten dimensions can be used as a guide in designing a CLS and in determining the order of design decisions. The identification and structuring of CTPL services also exemplify the variety of service offerings.

This is one of the first cross-case analyses of CLSs enabling the characterization of CTPL setups. This study identifies how different services included in the setup relate to the roles of SCM and logistics in construction.

The noise and dust particles caused by the construction transport are by most stakeholders experienced as disturbing. The purpose of this study is to explore how sonification can support visualization in construction planning to decrease construction transport disturbances.

This paper presents an interdisciplinary research project, combining research on construction logistics, internet of things and sonification. First, a data recording device, including sound, particle, temperature and humidity sensors, was implemented and deployed in a development project. Second, the collected data were used in a sonification design, which was, third, evaluated with potential users.

The results showed that the low-cost sensors used could capture “good enough” data, and that the use of sonification for representing these data is interesting and a possible useful tool in urban and construction transport planning.

There is a need to further evolve the sonification design and better communicate the aim of the sounds used to potential users. Further testing is also needed.

This study introduces new ideas of how to support visualization with sonification planning the construction work and its impact on the vicinity of the site. Currently, urban planning and construction planning focus on visualizing the final result, with little focus on how to handle disturbances during the construction process.

Showing the potentials of using low-cost sensor data in sonification, and using sonification together with visualization, is the result of a novel interdisciplinary research area combination.

The construction industry shows an increased interest in how to manage logistics within construction projects. Often construction logistics is outsourced to a logistics service provider (LSP). However, construction logistics is normally approached either as a strategic decision or as an operational issue and rarely as a tactical concern. The purpose of this study is to explore how to organize the logistics outsourcing decision at strategic, tactical and operational levels.

This study is performed as a single-case study within a construction corporation, containing (amongst others) a building contractor (BC) and a construction equipment rental company (CERC) offering logistics services.

The study shows that to procure construction logistics service successfully, BCs need logistics capabilities at strategic and tactical levels to maintain an alignment between the use of logistics services and operational characteristics. Simultaneously, CERC’s need to design their service offerings to correspond to the needs of the BC.

This study builds on a single-case study of a Swedish construction corporation. Further research is needed to better understand current logistics outsourcing and development practices and how these can be improved to foster better logistics management at the project level.

BCs find suggestions of different logistics organization structures and suitable outsourcing arrangements. CERCs and LSPs can use the findings to understand their customers’ needs and adapt service offerings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies of how two companies within a corporation can work together to develop construction logistics service offerings.

Contingency studies within logistics and supply chain management have shown a need for longitudinal studies on fit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the logistics strategy from a process of establishing fit perspective.

A large Swedish building contractor's logistics strategy process was analysed using a longitudinal single-case study for a period of 11 years (2008–2019).

The case study reveals three main constraints to logistics strategy implementation: a dominant purchasing organisation, a lack of incentives and diverging top-management priorities. This suggests that logistics strategy fit is not a conscious choice determined by contextual factors.

Establishing fit is a continuous cycle of regaining fit between the logistics context and logistics strategy components. Fit can be achieved by a change to the logistics context or to logistics strategy components.

Logistics managers may need to opt for satisfactory fit in view of the costs incurred by changing strategy versus the benefits to be gained from a higher degree of fit.

This paper adopts a longitudinal case design to study the fit between the logistics context and strategy, adding to the body of knowledge on organisational design and strategy in logistics and supply chain management.