Current Trends in Construction Site Layout Planning

Abstract

Site personnel or construction workers will spend most of the construction time within construction sites. If construction workers are able to move easily and quickly within the site, it helps to save time and increases productivity as well as safety. Optimizing the cost, safety, and productivity of a project often relies on the optimal planning of the construction site layout. However, site layout planning—unique for each construction project—depends on many variables, such as work areas and facility locations. To optimize workplace usage and minimize construction conflicts, participants on a project must consider the constraints that each construction project entails. Currently, the concept of an optimized construction site layout has no clear definition, so practitioners do not have specified guidelines or policies that govern the construction site layout. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to assess current practices for site layout planning and highlight the need for a rule-based approach to evaluating construction site layouts. The results presented in this paper can provide construction firms with a better understanding of why a rule-based system is important in site layout planning.