15 Reasons You Should Use a CCC on Your Next Project (2024)

When people talk about the construction industry of the future, they conjure a world of AI-powered drones laser-guiding materials into place before taking on the telehandler at 3D chess.

So the idea of using a distribution centre to store materials en-route to site might seem a little underwhelming.

Yet it’s an idea that’s developing momentum – and one that won’t have you worrying whether your wheeled excavator plans to enslave you in your sleep.

What is a construction consolidation centre?

Construction consolidation centres (CCCs) are strategically located distribution centres that accept materials from suppliers, organise them into ‘daypacks’, and then distribute them to the construction site in a just-in-time manner.
They can exist for a single project, or can be shared across multiple projects.
CCCs are not right for every project. They have to be run the right way. And it’s not always easy to make the economic case.
But in many cases they provide a wide range of benefits to general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers alike.

Here are some of the many reasons you should consider using a CCC on your city-centre projects – if you aren’t already.

1 – More punctual deliveries

The short distance from CCC to site – ideally less than 10 kilometres (Sulivan, Barthorpe and Robbins 2010) – means serious delays become much less likely. And the route being operated by the same drivers and vehicles means you can quickly understand any limiting factors and account for them.

This is not just theoretical.

In its final report, The London Construction Consolidation Centre (LCCC) – a shared resource used by multiple sites in the UK’s capital – reported a delivery reliability rate of 97% versus 39% without (referring to correct deliveries made within 15 minutes of the agreed time).

2 – Quicker deliveries for suppliers

The strategic location of consolidation centres means that suppliers’ vehicles don’t have to navigate congested city-centre streets or winding country lanes. They just go to the CCC, unload and return to base.

In doing so they spend most of their time on major transport corridors, skipping the slow and messy ‘final mile’.

For instance, the LCCC reduced total time spent by suppliers on their deliveries, including unloading, by an average of 2 hours, freeing up their staff and vehicles for other tasks.

3 – Reduction in traffic congestion

Consolidation centres allow goods from different suppliers to be aggregated together onto the same vehicle for the final leg of delivery. And the same vehicles can take away waste on the return journey.

This approach can go a long way to minimising the problem of partially-filled vehicles clogging urban streets en route to the site.

While the vehicles from a CCC won’t always be fully laden – they are typically loaded with all the related materials for a particular task for a given day – the overall result is still a vast improvement.

For example, the Colnbrook Logistics Centre at Heathrow Airport reduced construction traffic by up to 50%, while LCCC reported figures as high as 70% for the final leg of the journey.

This not only means fewer vehicles stuck in congested city streets, but also reduced congestion for all road users, including those related to your own project.

As the saying goes, you are not stuck in traffic – you are traffic.

4 – Reduced CO2, pollution and social nuisance

By reducing the number of vehicles on the road, consolidation centres can help reduce levels of CO2 and other pollutants.

The LCCC reported a 70-80% reduction in CO2 for final-leg deliveries. While the SUCCESS project, a pilot CCC scheme that took place in four cities in Europe, reported an average of 26% reduction in CO2, along with a 23% reduction in particulate matter.

And then there’s the social impact in terms of noise and traffic. This is harder to measure, but fewer vehicles generally means a reduced impact on the final leg of the journey, which for urban projects is also most likely to have people in physical proximity.

Furthermore, the vehicles making those journeys are likely to be under your control – or at least something you have a say in – meaning you can make sweeping improvements by updating the fleet, rather than having to petition suppliers to do the same.

5 – Loosening of the bottleneck at your site entrance

Fewer vehicles arriving at the site means a lot of things.

• Fewer instances of queuing at the site entrance
• Fewer times when vehicles are forced to unload on-street
• Fewer go-arounds
• Fewer arguments between subcontractors
• Fewer visits from the authorities

It also makes things easier on leaving, too...

There’s less of a squeeze to get off the site, which can be an issue on urban sites with limited access. And there are quite simply fewer muddy wheels to be washed, freeing up crew members for other tasks.

A construction project at St Bart’s Hospital in London showed 2,239 fewer vehicles accessing the site in a 17-month period (Lundesjo 2011).

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For more on the benefits of CCCs, including insights into the following...

• site security
• on-site and off-site accidents
• supply-chain issues
• just-in-time deliveries