Project 1.8 Industry Brochure (726.30 Kb)

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.

Documents for Downloading

The following documents provide additional detail regarding this current research, including project outcomes to date:

1.8 Final Industry Report – Dec 2012 (356.63 Kb)
Project 1.8 Fact Sheet 2011 (356.63 Kb)
Lehtiranta, L., Hampson, K. & Kenley, R.(2012) Evaluation of Green Public Road Procurement in Australia: Current Practices and Gaps to Fill. Sao Paolo, 4th CIB International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Built Environments. SASBE12. (Conference Presentation – Award for Highly Commended Paper) (947.53 Kb – 05.07.2012)
SASBE12 Highly Commended Paper Award Certificate (45.00 Kb – 25.07.2012)

Academic Publications

Kenley R and Harfield T (2011) Greening Procurement: A Research Agenda for Optimizing Mass-haul During Linear Infrastructure Construction, paper presented at Sixth International Conference on Construction in the 21st Century (CITC-VI), Construction Challenges in the New Decade Conference, 5-7 July 2011, Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kenley R and Harfield T (2011) Greening Procurement of Infrastructure Construction: Optimising Mass-Haul Operations to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, paper presented at CIB W78 W102 2011 Joint Conference, Computer Knowledge Building, 26-28 October, Sophia Antiplois, France.

Tan, SY, Harfield, T, Kenley, R and Pirzadeh, P (2012) Australian Carbon Calculator Initiatives: Fuel Consumption as a Proxy for Mass-Haul Greenhouse Gas Emission during Road Construction. In D Kashiwagi and K Sullivan (eds.) (2012). Proceedings of the Construction, Building and Real Estate Conference, 11-13 September 2012, Las Vegas, US, pp. 945-52.

Kenley R, Hampson K, Bedggood J, Harfield T and Sanchez A (2014) Sustainability Non-price Incentives and Rewards: A Collaborative Procurement Perspective, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Construction in a Changing World, in Kandalana, Sri Lanka, CIB – International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, 4-7 May, Kandalama, Sri Lanka.

Lehtiranta L, Hampson K and Kenley R (2012) Evaluation of Green Public Road Procurement in Australia: Current Practices and Gaps to Fill, paper presented at International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 28-29 June, Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Sanchez A and Hampson K (2012) Sustainable Road Infrastructure Procurement in Australia, in Procurement, Innovation and Green Growth: the Story Continues, International Institute for Sustainable Development, Winnipeg, Canada, pp. 33-37.

Burdett, RL and Kozan, E (2013) A dynamic approach for evaluating earthwork hauls in construction. In Proceedings of Abstract and Papers of 14th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference 2013, Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Society (APIEMS), Cebu, Philippines, 11pp.

Burdett, RL and Kozan, E (2013) Improved Earthwork Allocation Planning for Fuel Consumption and Emissions Reduction in Linear Infrastructure Construction-Case Study Data.

Burdett, RL. and Kozan, E (2013) Earthworks planning for road construction projects: a case study. In SL Kajewski, K Manley and KD Hampson (eds.) Proceedings of the 19th CIB World Building Congress 2013, 5-9 May 2013, Brisbane,14pp.

Sanchez AX, Lehtiranta LM, Hampson KD and Kenley R (2013) Sustainable Infrastructure Procurement in Australia: Standard vs. Project Practices, in Proceedings of the 19th International CIB World Building Congress, Brisbane 2013: Construction and Society, 5-9 May, Brisbane, Australia.

Kenley, R and Harfield, T (2013) The Complexity of Greening Procurement in an Open System. Proceedings of the Future Build Conference, 4-6 Sep 2013, Bath, UK, pp. 59-66.

Sanchez AX, Lehtiranta LM, Hampson KD and Kenley R (2014) Evaluation Framework for Green Procurement in Road Construction, Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 3(2), pp. 153-169

Sanchez AX, Lehtiranta LM and Hampson KD (2014) Use of Contract Models to Improve Environmental Outcomes in Transport Infrastructure Construction, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, p. In Press.

Burdett, RL and Kozan, E (2014) An Integrated Approach for Earthwork Allocation, Sequencing and Routing. European Journal of Operational Research 238(3) 741-59.

Burdett, R., Kozan, E and Kenley, R (2015) Block Models for Improved Earthwork Allocation Planning in Linear Infrastructure Construction. Engineering Optimisation 47(3) 347-69.

Sanchez A and Hampson K (2014) Analysing Green Australian Procurement Practices, Worldhighways.com

Sanchez A and Hampson K (2014) Green Australian Procurement, World Highways Magazine, November/December Issue, pp 16-17.

Kenley, R., Harfield, T. & Bedggood, J. (2015) Public data re-use policy, but not for road construction in Australia. Proceedings RICS COBRA2015. 8-10 July 2015, Sydney, Australia, 11pp.