The construction industry is one of the least digitally advanced industries. Although the industry is project-based, a project-level assessment of digitalization is lacking. The aim of this paper is to develop a digitalization index to assess the degree of digitalization of construction projects. Relying on the outcomes of a workshop with 11 participants and questionnaire responses from 113 site managers in Sweden, four activities; visualized drawings and three-dimensional (3D) models on sites; updated drawings, models, and system documents; created and updated work disposition plans; and updated time resource plans were selected, and a digitalization index enabling a simple assessment of the degree of digitalization of construction projects was constructed based on the degree of digitalization of the data management processes involved in these four activities. The approach to determine the digitalization index was demonstrated in a case study of a new construction project. For future studies, an accurate and simple assessment of the degree of digitalization of projects should increase the opportunities to study the association between the degree of digitalization and project performance. With longitudinal assessments, digitalization trends in the construction industry can be reported.

Multiple deliveries and long turnaround times on construction sites harm the environment and disturb on-site productivity and safety. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the transport patterns of construction material deliveries, including turnaround times. In order to investigate the number of transports and turnaround times, transport data for 13 Swedish construction sites, which were collected with the help of booking systems, were used. By comparing data from the cases, several patterns were observed: (i) very few projects receive deliveries at weekends, (ii) almost all projects receive 50% of their daily deliveries before 09:00, (iii) long goods, standard euro pallets and lightweight goods (less than 500 kg) are the most common deliveries, (iv) trucks and delivery vans are the most common vehicles used and (v) goods to be handled by crane and lightweight goods generate the longest turnaround time/delivery. This is one of the rare studies revealing current practice and issues associated with material deliveries, which is a necessary first step to increase efficiency of construction logistics. This study shows that it is possible to influence these issues, as some projects performed better than others regarding turnaround times and transport.

Waste management in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry has been a major research topic owing to the AEC industry being one of the top contributors of waste generation. However, research has primarily focused on new build and has neglected refurbishment projects which become relevant due to an aging building stock in Sweden and Europe. Various actors are involved in refurbishment projects which makes it important to study each actor as well as tensions between them. By using a service ecosystem perspective and relying on 38 interviews, this paper aims to investigate tensions and barriers between actors within the service ecosystem of CDW for refurbishment projects in Sweden. Based on the results, spatial barriers are the most mentioned barrier which also create the highest number of tensions between project and contractor mother firm, subcontractors, waste recycling firms and society/citizens. The majority of the tensions are found between projects and the contractor mother firms, followed by tensions between projects and clients and projects and subcontractors. Unlike previous studies investigating only one of the actor’s waste management practices, this paper contributes by investigating the interactions between seven different actors which is important for improving waste management practices in refurbishment projects.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether construction logistics services are still carried out mostly in an ad hoc manner, or has advanced to a more standardized, strategically implemented practice and to explore different actors’ attitudes towards construction logistics. Design/methodology/approach: Unlike previous studies of construction logistics, relying on single or multiple case studies, a survey was designed to deliver a generalizable snapshot of contemporary industry practices and the status of construction logistics. A total of 902 responses from the Swedish construction industry were collected with the help of the industry wide questionnaire. Findings: The results show that construction logistics setups (CLSs) are only used by 14% of the responding organizations, which confirms that construction logistics services are still mostly carried out in an ad hoc manner. This may change considering that respondents with more experience in the industry claim an increased demand for CLSs. The ad hoc approach is less common among contractors than other types of organizations and large organizations. Furthermore, there is a more positive attitude towards the benefits of construction logistics among the respondents from organizations having a standard CLS. Originality/value: This is the first industry wide survey presenting the status of implementation level of standardized logistics services in the construction industry and the attitudes among industry actors towards logistics.