BISON-KIT: Bouwlogistiek In Stedelijke ONtwikkeling – Kansen met dIgital Twins

The Netherlands faces a huge challenge in the construction industry. On the one hand, there is increasing pressure on the housing market with a growing need for new sustainably built homes (from 2024, 100,000 new homes per year). On the other hand, there are pressures related to nature conservation (nitrogen crisis), climate change (National Climate Agreement), and living environment (Clean Air Agreement). This requires careful consideration of how the construction task can be realized in the most sustainable manner, including aspects of construction logistics and mobile machinery. This research proposal aligns with all three themes of the ‘Kennis- en Innovatieprogramma (K&I) Emissieloos Bouwen’ of the Top Sector Logistics: efficient and sustainable construction logistics, application of sustainable construction concepts, digitalization and smart use of data. The K&I is part of the overarching roadmap for ‘Schoon en Emissieloos Bouwen’ (SEB). SEB aims to achieve 60% NOx reduction, 75% less health damage due to factors like particulate matter emissions, and 0.4 million tons of CO2 reduction in the construction sector by 2030. In November 2023, the ‘Covenant Schoon en Emissieloos Bouwen’ was signed by 45 parties, including municipalities, contractors and industry branches, outlining their joint commitment to implementing the SEB roadmap. Contractors and municipalities, in particular, are still exploring their roles and the most impactful strategies.
This project aims to develop a research environment based on connecting existing models and tools (e.g., BIM, construction emission tools, traffic models) By linking these models and tools and expend them on the topic of traffic modelling on a road network, a research environment for policy challenges related to construction logistics is created. This environment will allow prediction and visualization of the impact of various types of measures for reducing construction logistics disturbances on urban traffic flows and assessment of their effects on livability and the environment. The relevant measures considered in this project include:
•Logistics measures,
•Traffic measures,
•Other construction methods (e.g., industrial construction).
The innovation pursued by this project is to deepen the existing understanding of the impact of construction logistics and to develop effective tooling for optimizing these impacts. Current models can estimate the impact of construction logistics measures at the level of the number of transport trips and transport kilometers for various types of vehicles in urban and/or suburban areas. In this project, this information will be further specified (in place and time) and will serve as input for a traffic model to translate it to the underlying road network. The refined traffic model will be able to determine the impact of construction logistics flows, and measures affecting these, on other traffic flows and their impact on liveability and environment. Multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) are considered to express this impact, including congestion, accessibility, air quality, noise, safety and nitrogen and CO2 emissions specifically.
Specifically for industrial construction, further research is being conducted in this project on the impact of this type of construction methods on construction logistics and, consequently, construction logistics traffic flows. Industrial construction is expected to accelerate the construction process and is therefore a highly relevant measure for realizing the significant housing construction challenge faced by many municipalities.
The result of this project is a research environment consisting of various interconnected models, including construction models (4D-BIM), construction logistics models (construction emission tool), and traffic models (e.g., Urban Strategy). The research environment provides an excellent ‘playground’ for comparing various measures related to construction logistics, traffic, and construction methods in terms of impact. This offers better insight into the most effective course of action for provinces, municipalities, contractors and companies in the construction sector to minimize negative

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  impacts of construction logistics, especially in urban areas. In addition to the mentioned research environment, a report will be delivered, describing the methodology of the research environment and the insights and other results obtained from applying the research environment to scenario analysis for a practical use case for municipality Zuidplas in the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague (MRDH).
  The research involves developing a step-by-step enrichment and enhancement of construction plans related to urban area development. These plans encompass one or more construction projects over time, ultimately resulting in an overview of various types of traffic flows, specified in time and place, including construction traffic, on the road network. The impact on key performance indicators for relevant stakeholders is also assessed. This approach is applied and tested in apractical case: the municipality of Zuidplas in the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague (MRDH). The project consists of six work packages:
  •WP1: Exploration of relevant models and design of a generic research environment.
  •WP2: Analysis and detailing of construction transport in relation to goods transport in trafficmodeling.
  •WP3: Analysis of industrial construction versus traditional construction methods.
  •WP4: Development of the research environment and testing on a practical case Zuidplas(MRDH)
  •WP5: Knowledge dissemination and valorization of research results.
  •WP6: Project management.
  The valorization and knowledge dissemination activities take place throughout the entire duration of the project, starting from the beginning with ‘community building’ sessions in the form of project kickoff meetings and regular consortium meetings. These sessions raise awareness of the impact that innovations in construction and construction logistics (such as digital twins, BIM, construction logistics measures, and industrial construction methods) have on the KPIs and on the organization of the construction logistics chain and construction process. The consortium partners drive and promote the broader application of the accumulated knowledge within their (local and national) networks. The practical knowledge gained is made accessible through the public websites of the involved consortium partners and via the Topsector Logistics. During the project’s duration, the project team will organize two sector-wide conferences. The developed demonstrator digital twin using Urban Strategy for the practical case Zuidplas serves as a showcase in the field of policy instruments for traffic modeling related to construction and construction logistics. This contributes to raising awareness of the potential of applying digital twins in the construction sector. The application and utilization of digital twins for construction transport will lead to a better framework for evaluating measures with positive effects on preventing and reducing construction-related disruptions from urban development. It will also enhance the level of digital maturity and utilization of data technology by both public and private entities.