Integrating construction pollution control with construction schedule: an experimental approach

A quantitative approach for managing construction pollution control that is based on construction resource leveling is presented. The parameters of construction pollution index, hazard magnitude are treated as a pseudo resource and integrated with a project’s construction schedule. When the level of pollution for site operations exceeds the permissible limit identified by a regulatory body, a genetic algorithm (GA) enhanced leveling technique is used to re‐schedule project activities so that the level of pollution can be re‐distributed and thus reduced. The GA enhanced resource leveling technique is demonstrated using 20 on‐site construction activities in a project. Experimental results indicate that proposed GA enhanced resource leveling method performs better than the traditional resource leveling method used in MS Project© The proposed method is an effective tool that can be used by project managers to reduce the level of pollution at a particular period of time; when other control methods fail.