Less crowds in the city due to the Construction Hub

There will be a lot of construction going on in Eindhoven in the coming years, especially within the Ring. This involves quite a few logistical movements. To limit this as much as possible, the BouwHub has been officially opened by the Municipality of Eindhoven and VolkerWessels Materiaal & Logistiek.

“To stimulate a new way of thinking and working in construction projects, we as a municipality impose conditions on construction logistics,” explains mobility councilor Monique List. “We ask initiators to think about the impact of construction logistics on the environment at an early stage. In this way, we want to ensure fewer journeys by goods and construction personnel in the city. This way we keep the city healthy and accessible for our residents and visitors and it contributes to our climate ambitions.” The new BouwHub on the De Hurk industrial estate is a concept by VolkerWessels Material & Logistics. This hub is white label. This means that everyone can use it, without making a distinction between who builds, but aiming for optimal construction for everyone.

How does the BouwHub work?

The BouwHub is a location on the edge of the city where building materials for inner-city construction projects are collected, bundled and transported into the city in small transport, emission-free, and prepared at the workplace. The BouwHub monitors and coordinates the entire logistics process of the construction chain – from supplier to construction site. In addition to putting together so-called daily production packages, the BouwHub facilitates parking for construction personnel on the edge of the city and the reuse of residual flows. At the BouwHub we also work with people who are at a distance from the labor market. Ron Frazer, director of VWML and initiator of the BouwHub: “A lot of valuable data has been collected since 2014 together with knowledge institutions such as TNO, colleges and universities. This shows that significant savings are being achieved in the areas of sustainability, labor productivity, the number of freight movements, load factor and waiting times.”

De BouwHub realizes (source: TNO):

69% fewer trips into the city, fuller trucks, with a load factor from 40% to 90%, an increase in labor productivity of up to 39%, 68% less CO2 and 68% less NOx emissions

Measures taken by the municipality of Eindhoven

The municipality of Eindhoven has drawn up a policy to reduce construction logistics movements and make them more sustainable. A construction logistics plan is a requirement for tenders, land sales, preliminary agreements and the intake process. In this plan, initiators and contractors describe how transport (of materials and personnel) can be smarter and safer and reduced where possible. Where necessary, additional requirements are imposed or customized agreements are made for specific projects. This objective is in line with the agreements in the Climate Agreement. The municipality is also investigating whether construction staff can use the P+R locations on the edge of the city and from there can go to the city center by collective transport, shared mobility or public transport.

Living Lab by Brainport Bereikbaar and SmartwayZ.NL

In order to properly manage construction traffic in the city, information about the number of construction logistics journeys is important. SmartwayZ.NL and Brainport Bereikbaar have started a living lab with local builders and the BouwHub to gain more insight into this. Chris Bannink, Logistics project leader at Brainport Bereikbaar explains: “A third of transports within the Netherlands is construction traffic. To keep the center of Eindhoven accessible, it will help enormously if we can reduce the number of construction traffic trips in the city. In order to be able to take good measures as a city and as a construction company, it is first important to map out where construction traffic travels and when in an accessible, clear and reliable way. We do this with the living lab. We ask construction companies to share data about their journeys. Ultimately, this is good for everyone, because if the municipality and construction companies can take the right measures, construction traffic will soon be able to enter the city more efficiently and sustainably.”

Get off to a good start

The opening on March 7 is the formal starting signal for the BouwHub, but behind the scenes the BouwHub is already fully operational. The first projects have started with “Donna” at Bouwveld P, Strijp-S from Bouwbedrijf Wessels Zeist and the Bankier in Tilburg from builder Huybregts Relou in collaboration with Raab Karcher. Brainport Smart District (BSD) projects from KWS and iCity will start later this year and in the meantime, work is being done with Stam + De Koning on projects in the city center of Eindhoven.