1.8 Sustainable Infrastructure Procurement

The community’s concern with environmental cost of the built environment is growing, so there is a pressing need for industry to identify and reduce the environmental cost of production. One significant contributor to greenhouse gases including CO2 is the handling and haulage of mass materials such as earth and rock on road and rail projects.

Project partners Queensland Department of Public Works, Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance, Parsons Brinckerhoff, and John Holland are working with Swinburne University of Technology and Queensland University of Technology to find better ways to plan and manage infrastructure construction to reduce the environmental impact of mass material movements.

This project will add value for clients and producers (designers and contractors) of infrastructure by, for the first time, identifying rigorous methods for measuring, minimising and controlling the environmental cost of mass haul.

The following phases have been designed to deliver valuable outcomes from this research:

1. A review of existing research and best practice software and technology for earthworks management, mass haul analysis and construction fleet management. This will form the basis for theoretical models for Australian projects.
2. Develop a methodology for calculating carbon consumption of fleet. This will provide a method for clearly and rigorously calculating the impact of mass haul operations.
3. Develop a methodology for minimising mass haul costs and carbon footprint. This will allow contractors to identify better strategies that will minimise their environmental cost and to communicate the result clearly and effectively.
4. Develop non-financial assessment criteria for carbon consumption associated with earthworks on infrastructure projects. This will allow clients to improve the environmental performance of their projects through directed procurement mechanisms. This will also facilitate long-term performance improvement through recognition and rewarding non-financial criteria.
5. Develop a methodology for monitoring and controlling conformance with submissions. This will ensure accountability in the delivery of performance improvements and ensure that non-financial criteria are tied to incentives for real deliverables.

ARC Linkage

This project was leveraged into ARC Linkage project: Greening Procurement of Infrastructure Construction: Optimising Mass-haul Operations to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (LP110200314).

This project addresses three specialist topics: mass-haul and reduction of fuel usage; greening procurement processes; and process optimisation. Through mass-haul interviews, simulation modelling, knowledgecapture workshops and the development of process maps, the research team is providing industry recommendations on addressing these challenges. An Industry Report has been produced providing a step-by-step procurement process to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report confirms fuel reduction as a proxy for reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Using the recommended process to reduce fuel consumption for mass-haul will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This non-price factor assists road authorities meet their GHGE targets.

Project Outcomes

This research fills an important gap between environmental research and production efficiency research, and targets an emerging need for optimisation to reduce environmental impact of infrastructure construction.

• Phase 1 outcomes will include understanding international research and best practice in the domain of mass haul analysis and carbon impact. It will add to existing work which has been undertaken in understanding the environmental impact of infrastructure generally.
• Phase 2 outcomes will contribute internationally significant models for carbon impact of mass haul operations.
• Phase 3 will deliver models for optimisation of carbon impact and introduce new methods into the Australian industry for mass haul optimisation from both financial and carbon perspectives.
• Phase 4 will produce strategies for Australian clients of infrastructure projects and enhance the procurement methods toward improved environmental and financial performance.
• Phase 5 outcomes will contribute internationally significant models for monitoring and reporting compliance with environmental targets associated with mass haul operations.