Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects have become an internationally popular model for construction projects, where large risks are bore by the EPC contractor and the subcontractors [Galloway, 2009; Guo et al., 2010]. Risks are inherent to all construction projects, however, the high uncertainties of the international EPC markets, and the complex EPC processes, create for abundant risks which often make it unfeasible for EPC contractors to manage the risks by relying solely on their own capabilities [Wang et al., 2016]. These projects are often of large scale, financially and technically, in
a competitive environment where subcontractors have tight margins and even unrealistic budgeting [Yeo and Ning, 2002]. Furthermore, the concept of risk management is a widely discussed topic in construction literature. However, the effective allocation of these risks to certain parties down the supply chain is
not a popular subject. EPC project environments are known for their adversarial relationships between stakeholders, where subcontractors have demonstrated a certain feeling of distrust within the supply chains [Dainty et al., 2001]. The status quo of these large and complex EPC projects is that the number of subcontractors willing and able to take on the risks of EPC projects is shrinking. There is a need for a more effective risk allocation within the supply chain.

To address this problem statement, this research focuses on analyzing how the risk allocation within the supply chain can improve, in order to improve the project performance for all parties involved. This problem statement is answered through the viewpoint of the contracting strategy used in EPC projects since the contracting strategy is a tool for allocating risks. The final output of this research is a Network Risk Allocation model and recommendations for both EPC contractors and subcontractors. This is attained by conducting exploratory research, consisting of quantitative data gathering, in order
to answer the main research question:

How can risks within EPC projects effectively be allocated among the EPC contractor and subcontractors, to improve project performance through strategic contracting?

This research is divided into three phases. The first phase includes the theoretical background, including a literature review, document review, and exploratory interviews. Phase one dives into the theory around risk allocation, risks in EPC projects, and the supply chain network. Here it is concluded that an effective risk allocation for EPC projects is in the form of a network risk allocation. Phase 2 continues by conducting empirical research in the form of a Case Study analysis. Two projects are analyzed on the basis of their risk allocation. This led to recommendations for effective risk allocation. Phase 3 dives into the development of the solution model: the network risk allocation model. It is found that collaboration in the network is an important element to effective risk allocation, amongst other factors.

Construction projects have become increasingly complex, requiring effective management strategies to navigate challenges related to project contexts, interdisciplinary integration, and procurement processes. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) has introduced the two-phase model to address these complexities. This model emphasizes client-contractor collaboration and differs significantly from traditional project management strategies. Emotional Intelligence (EI), particularly the competence of empathy, has been recognized as a valuable factor in improving collaboration and project performance. Additionally, Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) has gained international recognition as a project delivery model involving the contractor earlier in the project. ECI in the Dutch construction sector corresponds to the two-phase model of which the Bouwteam is a known example. This research aims to explore the role of empathy in improving project performance through client-contractor collaboration in the first phase of the two-phase model and provide a practical framework for practitioners. The research approach consisted of selecting four cases to conduct 16 semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis software is used to research the research variables: empathy, two-phase model, collaboration, and project performance.

The research findings reveal two key relationships: the relationship between client-contractor collaboration and project performance and the relationship between empathy and client-contractor collaboration.

The relationship between client-contractor collaboration and project performance: the study indicates that client-contractor collaboration significantly influences project performance in the first phase of the two-phase model. Collaboration affects the actual performance of quality criteria and the perception of time and cost criteria. Key differences in the collaborative process within the two-phase model are a shift towards process-focused outcomes, shared responsibility between the client and contractor, and flexibility in criteria. Affective trust, communication, and cohesion are identified as crucial factors for successful collaboration. Tools such as Project Start-Up and team-building sessions facilitate collaboration and should be utilized to enhance project performance.

The relationship between empathy and client-contractor collaboration: empathy plays a pivotal role in facilitating understanding at the team member and organizational levels, fostering relationships, and promoting collaboration. It is particularly important in project phases where unfamiliarity between client and contractor exists. Empathy influences factors essential to the collaborative process, such as trust, communication, and cohesion. The research identifies factors that influence the occurrence of empathic behavior, including the work environment, team relationships, communication, and team size. A proactive attitude towards empathy and continuous development of empathic behavior are recommended for project success.

The research findings support the hypotheses that client-contractor collaboration and empathy positively contribute to project performance in the first phase of the two-phase model. A practical framework is proposed, consisting of four strategies, to improve project performance through empathy and collaboration. The framework should be applied collectively by project managers at the start of the first phase and throughout the project. Future research should explore quantitative testing of the hypotheses, validate the framework in practice, and investigate additional relevant competencies...

The Dutch construction sector is confronted with a complex and challenging situation. The majority of the infrastructural elements in the Netherlands were built in the 1950s and 60s, which means they are approaching the end of their lifespan. This state, in combination with backlogged maintenance and budget cuts, created a significant and urgent renovation and replacement wave that the sector is now facing. Additionally, other challenges like the tightness of the labour market, increasing material prices, the sector’s substantial emissions of CO2 and nitrogen and it’s limited learning capacity only exacerbate the complexity of the situation.

One of the key solutions emerging in this context is the implementation of the contractual portfolio approach (CPA), where multiple works are bundled into one tender. This approach shows potential to efficiently tackle the renovation and replacement task, while at the same time creating a healthier situation in the sector. However, it is a very novel strategy about which both stakeholders and researchers possess limited knowledge. Therefore, this research fills this gap by exploring the implementation of CPA for the civil engineering sector. This exploration is done by analysing what CPA exactly entails, the objectives clients pursue when implementing a CPA and the choice options they have when doing so.

Out of this study, a clear definition of CPA emerges, which is:

The bundling of a logical set of similar works into one initial tender, with the purpose of reaching certain work-transcending objectives.

Next to this, eight main objectives are identified, accompanied by eleven key choice options that clients have at their disposal. These objectives include enhancing standardisation, increasing efficiency and stimulating a learning curve. The choice options, among others, are the selection and award criteria of the initial tender, the composition of the bundling of works and the implementation of performance management. Clients tend to lack a concise list of objectives while at the same time having a shortage of an overarching view on available choice options. Next to this, the links between choice options and objectives bring about certain dilemmas. This happens when a specific choice has a positive effect on one objective, but a negative one on another. As an example, the implementation of performance management provides the client with a certain degree of control over the quality of the portfolio, while at the same time decreasing the contractor’s willingness to invest. Next to these dilemmas, certain situational factors prove to be influential for the effectivity of choice options. For instance, a high complexity of the environment of a work hampers the workflow within a portfolio.

Concluding, clients can adopt the contractual portfolio approach as a way to achieve a variety of objectives. From sustainability to efficiency, and from risk reduction to standardisation. To effectively do this, it is important to explicitly define objectives and limit these to the most important ones. Furthermore, it is important to consider all the available choice options and to position the buttons in a way that it aligns to both the portfolio situation and the specific objectives. Then, it is vital to consider the circumstances of the specific case and to carefully weigh the trade-offs associated with certain dilemmas. Ultimately, clients are advised to use the CPA Decision Guideline that is constructed in this research as a tool that supports the decision-making.

Sustainability is seen as one of the most important challenges faced by the world today (Silvius, 2017). Within EPC companies, there are quite some ambitions at the strategic level to integrate sustainability into project procurement, but implementation at the project level is still quite limited. Additionally, existing literature focusing on sustainable procurement or sustainability within supply chains (i.e., suppliers/(sub-)contractors), in the domain of EPC companies in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry is also quite limited. This research study thus aims to develop a strategy on how EPC companies in the Energy & Chemicals (E&C)/Process industry can integrate sustainability into their project procurement practices, thereby adding to academic literature and practice. To achieve this objective, this research study was conducted in three main phases. In phase one, a thorough literature and document review was conducted, resulting in a conceptual sustainability framework that could be integrated into an EPC company’s project procurement practices such as prequalification and supplier/(sub-)contractor selection. The sustainability framework consisted of a set of sustainability criteria and performance indicators which can be used to assess the sustainability level of an EPC company’s suppliers/(sub-)contractors. In the second phase, semi structured interviews were conducted to understand views from practice regarding the topic of sustainable procurement. Main insights gathered included understanding the enablers and barriers encountered by EPC companies during implementation of sustainability into procurement, the prioritization of the identified performance indicators, incentives to stimulate sustainable procurement and suggestions for improvement. The third and final phase synthesized all the findings gathered so far, to propose a strategy or solution for EPC companies to integrate sustainability into their project procurement practices. This research study concluded by providing a holistic set of recommendations to all actors involved in executing a project, such as clients, EPC companies and supply chain actors on how sustainability can be effectively and efficiently integrated into project procurement practices.

Any industry is focusing on creating an environment that is as safe as possible for everyone that is involved. This is no different for the construction industry. However, the construction industry is placed second in the ranking of most dangerous industries. The Dutch Safety Board, being an independent administrative body, has recommended to integrate a third party into the contractual general terms and conditions such as the UAC for integrated contracts. The objective of this research is to examine whether there is any potential to integrate a third party into the UAC-IC 2005 contract. This potential is being examined using a comparison between the UAC-IC 2005 and FIDIC Yellow Book 1999, a contract in which a third party is already present. In this comparison, the main focus points are the "vital tasks & responsibilities" that are necessary in order to safeguard safety on site, safety of the surrounding area & structural safety.

This thesis has found that the three types of safety can be improved if the vital tasks & responsibilities are properly performed. These tasks & responsibilities mainly relate to the management of project specific and safety related risks, and to the safety approach that is a result of this risk management system. From a theoretical point of view, the UAC-IC 2005 and the Dutch Building Decree are able to facilitate these vital tasks & responsibilities. The ON is responsible for most of the vital tasks & responsibilities, and the OG has the possibility to use an external control mechanism to verify this. The practical situation is however different. It is not uncommon that other aspects like time, or money can get more important for the contracting party than proper risk management processes and the corresponding safety approach. Work is not executed as intended, but rather as work-as-actually-done. The OG’s incentives in the UAC-IC can be insufficient for him to effectively perform this external control mechanism. This leads to a possible situation in which no internal nor external control mechanism is present, which is to the detriment of safety. The Engineer, being the party that is responsible for an external independent control mechanism in the Yellow Book’s quality assurance system, does have more incentives to actually make him perform this external independent control mechanism effectively. This incentive has its origin in the uncapped liability which the Engineer can be held liable for. If the Dutch version of the role of the Engineer would be integrated into the UAC-IC, he would be able to improve the three types of safety when he takes over the responsibility for the external control mechanism from the OG under the assumption that this external control mechanism will be performed more effectively. This assumption is valid if the Dutch Engineer would have a comparable liability as in the White Book. Since TNR 2011 would most likely be used in the Dutch construction industry, the liability in TNR 2011 must be increased for Dutch Engineers in order to be comparable to FIDIC’s White Book.

This research aims to identify gain-and-pain-sharing methods to foster a collaborative environment to create win-win situations and create mutual objectives. To do so, gain-and-pain-sharing methods that can positively influence a collaborative environment are explored. This study is restricted to the Dutch construction sector because it is for Dutch implementation. Second, the research scope includes projects with high complexity because otherwise, gain-and-pain-sharing do not have effects, and most problems arise due to complexity. Lastly, the research focuses on the client side, since the client chooses the type of contract and criteria. The objective of the research is to provide clients with insight into the gain-and-pain-sharing possibilities and practical implementation steps to implement a gain-and-pain-sharing mechanism to incentivise collaboration. In the literature, different definitions of gain-and-pain sharing were identified and combined into the following definition: ‘Gain-and-pain sharing is defined as an agreement that allows the parties in a construction project to share profits or cost savings and to share losses due to errors or cost increases. Mutual benefits are achieved through gain sharing. Benefits could, for example, also be a reward for one’s delivered work, a bonus or recognition, and losses are the risks’. Based on this definition, the following gain-and-pain-sharing concepts were identified: -Bonus-malus; -Sharing of new created benefits; -Risk pot; -Target cost. The different concepts have different effects and different reasons for use as gain-and-pain sharing mechanisms. The way to deploy the mechanism depends on the choice based on the vision and strategy that the client has for the project. These two elements in turn depend on the company and project objectives, project specifications, experience with collaboration concepts, risk aversion, market conditions and one of the most important conditions, the scope certainty. It can be concluded that the gain-and-pain-sharing mechanism is deployed by different concepts for different purposes to incentivise collaboration and create mutual objectives. This coordination for the implementation of the mechanism is custom-made for each project based on a number of steps. The step-by-step plan that supports the implementation of the gain-and-pain-sharing mechanism. The case studies demonstrated that such a mechanism has been successful in those cases and is an added value for collaboration and the realisation of common goals.

The purpose of this research was contributing to better understand the drivers of public authorities in the Dutch infrastructure sector to change their contract strategy. In the awareness of the complex multi-layered phenomena of change in the public sector, this deductive research adopted the theory of Kuipers et al. (2014) and implemented it for a holistic multiple case study. For the concretization of the holistic multiple case study, a total of three cases over different time periods, from Rijkswaterstaat and the Water Authority Delfland have been reviewed. In this, the multi-method qualitative research strategy has been adopted, where both secondary and primary data have been gathered with respect to these three cases. At length, both types of data have been analysed using the concept-driven analysis procedure, modelled accordingly to the five-factor framework of Kuipers et al. (2014). Substantively, the conclusion of this research is two-folded; that public authorities are driven by extrinsic as well as intrinsic drivers. Firstly, in two of the three cases, the effects of the (external) contextual factors could be seen as direct triggers in the process of change. The significance of extrinsic drivers was already traditionally known and corresponds primarily with the institutionalist perspective. Essentially; the predominate presumption that changes are ‘made to’ organizations. Be it that this research found that the conjunction of these triggering factors was less intricated than priorly expected, only one or two macro external factors per case. Secondly, in the remaining case - the intrinsic motivation of the organisation could be seen as the principal driver of the change. This finding is in accordance with the change management perspective. A perspective with its roots in private sector research, that only recently emerged as a theory for public sector research. Principally, this rational-adaptive theory places significant attention on the intentional actions of agents. Herein, the main attention is focused on the roles, activities and behaviours of individuals, rather than an orientation that highlights the personality, character or traits of the leader (Burke, 2017). In view of this, however - this research found that for one case - the intrinsic drive from an organisation was predominately based on the personal believe system of an individual leader. Therefore, for future research, the objectivistic-based positivism philosophy that underlies both previously mentioned perspectives - should be complemented with more a subjectivistic-based research philosophies such as the social constructivism theory. In sum, future research that aims to identify driving factors for specific changes at public authorities, specifically for first and second order changes – should focus on both the macro level and micro level, in order to minimize the possibility of drawing unintentional preclusions. Therein, striking a balance between subjective and objective (primary) data.

Currently the world is dealing with a pandemic. The world has stopped, and people are distancing from each other. However, this large crisis is not the only crisis the world is currently dealing with. Climate change is affecting the world drastically since the last century. Our current way of development must stop to deal with this change. This is the ideal time to stop and think about the future. How can we provide a future-proof city that is still attractive to our grandchildren?
Regardless of the crisis, more people want to live in cities, and therefore more features are needed within the same space. Cities must continuously adapt to new needs and demands. This fast-changing environment makes it even harder to continue our current development, while adapting to the needs and demands. A future-proof city starts with a sustainable development of new plans. It is time to improve the involvement of sustainability in area development. This study will look at this overdue change in area development. It acknowledges this problem and aims to advice how sustainability can be better embedded in spatial planning.
To support this optimization, the instruments of a municipality are researched in this master thesis. Next to the instruments, also, governance and the organizational aspects are included. This research has found that these three aspects of instruments, governance and organization combined should be optimized. An optimization of these three aspects can ensure that an area is developed sustainable.

When it comes down to building or maintaining civil infrastructure commissioned by a governmental body, a lot has changed during the last couple of years. The government made a turn from all determining body, to a cooperative partner and later even to an organization that’s outsourcing most of the construction and maintenance work to second and third parties. Changing the working methodology requires a change in the contracting strategy. Nowadays, the contract of choice for maintenance used by governmental and semi-governmental organizations is the performance-based maintenance contract (PBMC). There are many risks and important factors that influence the outcome of the use of PBMC in a negative way. Organizations that use them seem to overlook those negative influences and just focus on the potential cost savings. This results to a contract that hasn’t really been updated since it was first introduced. This leaves a situation where the effectiveness of the contract form is less than optimal; the contract does not deliver its full potential and the writers of the contract have no standardized way to approach the PBMC. The goal of thesis is to therefore find a structured way that can assist the contract design teams in making informed decision when drafting a PBMC. In order to find that structured way, the ingredients that would make up the structure had to be found. To achieve that, a literature study was performed in which all the criteria that would influence the outcome of a PBMC where gathered and categorized into five main decision criteria: predictability, plannability, measurability, responsibility and criticality. Next up, the parameters of the PBMC had to be found. These parameters would enable the user of the method to change the way an object would be outsourced based on the five main decision criteria. The parameters that where found are: size/scope, contribution of the contractor and the performance requirements. In order to provide the user with sensible information about a certain object to base their decisions on about the way of outsourcing, a trustworthy and function information gathering tool/method was needed. Within the area of reliability centered maintenance (RCM), the failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) method was found to be very useful to gather the required information to base these decisions on. Another method that was found to be useful was the risk allocation matrix by Brommet. This method was created to give the user insight in possible outsourcing and payment solutions for DBFM contracts, but a redesign of the original matrix proved just as useful in making suggestions about outsourcing and payment methods for PBMC. All this information led to the creation of the decision-support method. This method, which contains 7 steps, was created to help contract design teams in making their initial decision about the way a certain object should be outsourced. The first step is designed to find the necessary information and prepare the risk allocation matrix to make it usable for this specific case. Steps 2 to 7 are designed to give a step by step answer on how to interpret each parameter and to reach a decision on how to outsource a certain part of an object. These steps are repeated for every single part of the object until a suggested outsourcing decision is made for every single part. The decision-support method is tested twice on a real case. During these case studies improvements were made to the initial model. Eventually the method is presented during an expert meeting within Rijkswaterstaat and another set of improvements was implemented. It can be concluded that the method can be successful in helping the contract design team is making a PBMC. Both by using the entire method of utilizing parts of it during the contract design process. The method helps the user to think of more options and assists in weighing these different options against each other. Although, the methods needs further testing and can definitely be improved. The potential of a method like this was definitely recognized during the expert meeting. The last part of the thesis is therefore dedicated to the limitations of the method at this time and the future research and improvements that can be made.

Construction projects are argued to be the most complex of all production undertakings (Baccarini, 1996). Williams (2002, 2005) states that the complexity of these projects is a contributing factor to project failures, such as cost overrun, which are commonly seen in infrastructure project (Cantarelli, Molin, Van Wee, & Flyvbjerg, 2012). As one of the first Morris & Hough (1988) describe that cost overruns are common and that many projects appear as failures, while Flyvbjerg et al. (2003) agrees with Morris & Hough, by stating that this is a long-lasting problem since cost estimates have not improved and cost escalations have not decreased in the past 70 years. However, between the 1990s and 2000s, western governments were reassessed and more tasks were privatized (England & Ward, 2007; Pollit & van Thiel, 2007). Governments expected that private contractors would be able to innovate more, deliver quicker, reduce costs, and operate more efficient (Savas, 2000) resulting in integrated contract types. This research aims to provide insight into the relationship between the contract type and the management of cost groups, in Dutch national infrastructure projects in order to improve cost management. To provide an answer to the main research question, a literature study has been performed followed by a statistical analysis of 68 infrastructure projects with contract types including, RAW (n=24), E&C (n=22), and D&B(M) (n=22). Combined with the expectations of the expert panel this study concludes that there is no relation between the contract types RAW, E&C, and D&B(M) and the cost management of Dutch national infrastructure projects. However, it has been observed that project members of a contractor overestimate the relationship that D&B(M) projects should have higher cost overruns. This study concludes that the cost performance, of cost groups other than engineering, differ insignificantly and marginally small between contract types with varying design responsibilities. Moreover, the expert panel assumes that more information leads to less uncertainty and risks resulting in less cost overruns. Which is a common reasoning as stated in the GWW market analysis performed by McKinsey. However, this study concludes that the unavailability of information depending on the moment of contracting does not have an influence on the uncertainty of the cost performance nor the cost performance itself. Therefore, this study does not believe that the “two-phase-process” as proposed by McKinsey will contribute to less uncertainty about the cost performance. Instead, this study illustrates that Dura Vermeer confidently applies percentages to estimate relatively small, often process-related indirect cost groups which on average incur a cost overrun. Therefore, both the client and contractor should improve the process of constructing large complex infrastructure projects in order to improve the cost performance.

The risk allocation in DBFM projects is currently a hot topic, whereby multiple contractors have withdrawn from the procurement of these projects. This research provides a practical guidance in the risk allocation process of DBFM projects, consisting of design principles of literature and lessons learned from practice. The design principles that should be taken into account are: The party has the best capability to control the events that might trigger the risk; The party has the capacity and expertise to control, monitor and minimize these risks; The party has identified, understood and evaluated the risk; The party has the resources to deal with the risk if it fires; The party accepting the risk can charge the right premium for this risk; The party has the right risk attitude and wants to accept the risk. The lessons that can be learned from practice are to use the insights of similar projects, to have a proper allocation of data inadequacies, to have an open discussion on the risk allocation in the procurement and to focus on collaboration. Besides the practical guidance, this research has provided an assessment framework in order to see if it is (un)favourable to use the DBFM contract. The assessment framework is based on three characteristics, namely the involvement of only one discipline, the budget between the €60 million and €500 million and the stable scope over time.

In the past decade the relationship between the client and contractor in the Dutch infrastructure sector has been disrupted. This disrupted relationship can mainly be characterised as adversarial and distrusting. Additionally, this has resulted in a growing number of disputes between the client and the contractor. As a result of the adversarial relationship and the high expenses to resolve the growing number of disputes, construction projects are more likely to face with time and cost overruns. Currently, the Dutch infrastructure sector is searching for possibilities to improve the client-contractor collaboration. In this study the client-contractor collaboration in ECI projects is compared to collaboration in D&C projects. To assess the client-contractor collaboration, the RECAP tool is used. The results of this research are evident. The client-contractor collaboration in ECI projects is better for all collaborative aspects.

The construction industry has always been an important driver of the economy. An important part of the projects in this industry is commissioned by public entities. However, recently a trend can be observed in which the procurement process fails more often than before. Due to the current times of economic expansion in the Netherlands contractors are more selective in project selection. Failed procurement processes are however undesirable since the transaction costs and time invested in such a process can mount up. Many scholars have investigated the bid decision of contractors (Bagies & Fortune, 2006; Shokri-Ghasabeh & Chileshe, 2016). Yet, in order to contribute to solving the issue mentioned above not all considerations of contractors are relevant. Therefore, this research specifically focused on those considerations, or decision attributes, that a client can influence during the tender design phase. Resulting in the following research question: “What tender design related attributes are key decision drivers in the contractor’s bid decision and how do these key decision drivers influence the bid decision in economic times of expansion for publicly procured non-residential construction projects in the Netherlands?”

Early supplier involvement (ESI) can be defined as a mechanism for involving preferred suppliers in the early phases of product design and development. The concept of ESI is frequently mentioned in the context of New Product Development (NPD) and has been in existence for over half a century with positive results in a number of industries. In the Dutch infrastructure sector however, the implementation of the ESI concept is not yet as widespread as in the automotive or electronics industries. Consequently, the opportunity to conduct this study comes from the recent developments that resulted in an increased reliance on suppliers' knowledge in Dutch infrastructure projects, combined to the fact that ESI seems to be a potential solution to cope with those changes. Therefore, through literature study and interviews with practitioners within the Dutch infrastructure sector, it is aimed to identify the current status of ESI within the Dutch infrastructure sector, identify barriers and stimuli to the ESI process and derive some recommendations for the sector.

Nowadays, a worldwide urbanisation trend can be observed. In the Netherlands, it is expected that the population of the four largest cities will be increased with an average of 15% in 2030. In total, these four big cities will accommodate a third of the Dutch population in 2030 (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek & Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, 2016). The growth of urban populations will generate a need to further develop cities, which will lead to a significant increase in construction work in cities. Because of the change from building in greenfield areas to brownfield areas, more people will experience the accompanying nuisances the increase of construction work brings. The accompanied nuisances relate to emissions and the reductions of the liveability and accessibility of cities during the execution of construction projects. To ensure the reduction of nuisances caused by construction tasks are reduced, a number of smart solutions in construction logistics have been developed. These solutions relate to the actions municipalities, contractors, wholesalers, and several other stakeholders can take. The smart solutions, among other things, provide concepts related to reductions of the amount of traffic. It is in the municipalities’ interest that feasible, effective and efficient solutions in construction logistics are further developed and applied on a larger scale, as this will help them to achieve their stated sustainable ambitions and increase the liveability and accessibility of urban confined areas during the construction phase of projects. However, on an operational level, municipalities do not sufficiently know how to stimulate the implementation of smart solutions in construction logistics in order to minimise nuisances caused by the construction sector. In order to respond to this shortcoming, the objective of this thesis is to provide a supporting tool to enable Dutch municipalities to stimulate market stakeholders to implement smart solutions in construction logistics in their projects. Because of the many different roles municipalities can play (client, licensor, coordinator, and owner of ground), the various types of projects municipalities conduct and the diversity in contract types is the Design Statement more specified than the objective of this thesis. The Design Statement can be read as follows: ‘Developing a tool that will give support to employees of municipalities working on the realisation of UAV-GC (Uniforme Administratieve Voorwaarden - Geïntegreerde Contractvormen) procured civil works, helping them to stimulate market stakeholders to implement smart solutions in construction logistics into projects.’ In order to respond to the Design Statement, a design of a supporting tool is developed. Prior to this, a number of Design Requirements that the design must satisfy are articulated. This requires, among other things, conducting research focusing on three aspects, being firstly, municipalities their deployable instruments to stimulate smart solutions in construction logistics, secondly, the process steps in municipalities its procured UAV-GC civil works projects and thirdly, the specifications of the deployable instruments. Through researching seven different subjects, namely a literature study on smart solutions in construction logistics, the smart solutions in construction logistics that are implementable by market stakeholders or by municipalities, the influence that municipalities have on the implementation of smart solution that can be implemented by market stakeholders, the level of applicability of smart solutions when implemented in civil projects, the specific related market stakeholders, obstacles and incentives that market stakeholders face and actions that municipalities can take, the deployable instruments were found. These instruments are: Procurement, Communication, Material agency, Contract management, BLVC, and Coordination department. The second research focus has resulted in a flow chart of the UAV-GC process that is divided in four phases and contains 23 process steps. From the third research focus, a list of contributors and obstructers that occur per instrument relating to the stimulation of smart solutions in construction logistics was developed. In addition to the Design Requirements that relate to the three research aspects, are also other Design Requirements formulated. They are derived from the scope, objective, and interview sessions with future users. The requirements are used as a starting point in the design phase of the tool for which different iterative design steps are taken. The final version of the tool represents a Project Roadmap It is presented as a small booklet printed in A5 size. The booklet is primarily made out of two parts, being a graphic and an explanation text. The icons displayed on the traffic signs represent the actions that take place during each intersection. The traffic signs are shaped in two different forms, being a diamond and square, representing respectively actions that can be taken in order to reduce construction related nuisances and actions that only consist of process step explanations. Finally, it has been decided that the created tool satisfies all mandatory requirements. Furthermore, the Project Roadmap responds to the stated Design Statement and ensures that all Dutch municipalities obtain guidance on how to stimulate market stakeholders to implement smart solutions in construction logistics in UAV-GC procured civil structure projects. It is recommended to keep supplementing the Project Roadmap with the latest information concerning municipalities its deployable instruments and smart solution in construction logistics in urban confined areas.

The last couple of years the concept of the Circular Economy (CE) has been gaining more and more attention. The Netherlands want to become a CE as well and the government presented a national policy programme including goals to reach a CE in 2050. One of those goals is that Dutch public authorities should procure all their projects 100% circularly by 2030. Practice shows that in the infrastructure sector public authorities start with high circular ambitions, but throughout the procurement process it seems to diminish. Public authorities tend to specify their need in detail, and make little use of the knowledge and experience that is present in the supply chain. The fact that the circular ambitions are only partly reached after the realization of the project makes the public procurement process not very effective. A possible contribution to increase this effectiveness can be a specific procurement approach that focusses on utilizing the experience from the supply chain, called the Best Value approach (BVA). However, no literature so far has described the opportunities of the BVA as an approach to procure circular infrastructure in the Netherlands.

The goal of this research is to create a guideline for Dutch public authorities about how they can procure circular infrastructure more effectively by making use of the BVA. This results in the following research question: In what way, if any, can the Best Value approach contribute to the effectiveness of public procurement in order to stimulate the transition towards a circular infrastructure sector in the Netherlands?

The infrastructure gap is defined as the gap between investment requirements of infrastructure and the public funds available. Due to these gaps, not enough new infrastructure is developed and this puts a constraint on economic growth. This study looks at the impact that pension funds can have on closing this infrastructure gap, and thereby aid in an increased development of new infrastructure.

Public construction projects have an image of poor performance, both in the Netherlands and other countries. Too many public projects go over budget and over time. A possible improvement to this poor performance could be Early Contractor Involvement (ECI). ECI literally translates to involving a contractor “early”, which in current practice implies that the contractor is involved before the design phase. As a more unambiguous definition was missing for this principle in the Netherlands, this research identified two varieties of ECI; a consulting form (like a market consultation) or a contracting form, where the contractor is contracted during the final stages of the initiation phase. ECI is suggested in literature to be a promising option to improve public construction projects in the Netherlands, but literature is split on what ECI is and what the benefits are. This thesis study aims to identify the effects, implications and implementation of ECI in the Netherlands. From this study, eight potential benefits of ECI have been identified by means of a Delphi study. Some examples of these benefits are improved risk assessment, risk distribution, higher project quality and higher certainties in both costs and planning. However, reaping these benefits requires preparation and experiments with projects using ECI. There currently seems to be no initiatives with ECI on the agenda, except the refurbishment project of the Hoevelaken intersection.
To implement ECI in the Dutch public construction industry, this research found several conditions to implement and use ECI. Firstly, the role division of the client, design firm and contractor should be done differently. Secondly, the distribution of the risks must change. And thirdly, procurement may have to be specifically designed for ECI. In addition to these conditions, there are three barriers to overcome. These barriers are primarily concerned with the client side of the market. The client fears the early commitment to just one contractor and finds it hard to secure the competition in the market properly when ECI is used. Following these two barriers is a third; there is a lack of determination to experiment and implement ECI. To help overcome these barriers, four incentives are identified to be applied simultaneously:
• An investment from the public sector to experiment with ECI,
• Design of a proper exit-clause to terminate the contract,
• The use of Past-Performance criteria for procuring projects with ECI,
• The application of incentives on contractor behavior.
When ECI is implemented in public construction in the Netherlands, ECI will have implications on both public construction projects and the construction industry. In procurement the criteria other than price are likely to become more important, as price is unrealistic to test on so early in a project. Contractors will have to develop their advising role and expand their designing/engineering capacity. As their expertise and capabilities develop, design and engineering work is likely to flow from the design firms to the contractors. The engineering expertise of the client must expand as well, to be able to communicate on the same level as the contractors to prevent communication errors and opportunistic behavior.
This research suggests that ECI can indeed improve public projects on several aspects, but if there are too few experiments to develop and improve the concept it is unlikely to see implementation soon. As communication, perseverance and determination are key in experimenting with something new, this thesis advocates investing in ECI experiments with people who are capable and willing to try to make ECI work. Proper preparation and learning from the experiments will create forward momentum. When forward momentum is gained, ECI could be disproved to work or be proved a working innovation in the construction market, marking the next market improvement on the road to collaboration in the construction industry.

Within the field of construction management & engineering are upcoming cities investigated on how they achieved economic development and how they increased the quality of life by using the phenomena of city branding as development tool. By doing so (city branding), cities hope to get a better position on the global market to attract companies (multinationals), inhabitants and tourists. In addition, also to define local urban identity for the current inhabitants.

This thesis describes how contractors in the water construction industry can capture and store performance information to present in tenders for Best Value projects. It describes which performances are relevant to present in such tenders, how performance information can be captured during projects and how performance information can be stored within the contractor's organisation for presentation in Best Value tenders.