search.noResults

search.searching

saml.title
dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
TRANSPORT & MATERIALS HANDLING


TIME TO RETHINK MATERIALS LOGISTICS?


Traffic restrictions and targets to cut CO2 mean everyone is rethinking how goods and services are moved around our streets. Andrew Brown explains that one answer might be a cargo bike.


I


f you’re delivering materials in an urban area of the UK you will have seen the traffic management restrictions brought in across the country as part of the response to the Covid-19 epidemic. You might have already had to adjust expectations before the virus hit to cope with congestion and air quality rules.


It feels like more bureaucracy. But, what you might not know is that traffic policy decision makers in local authorities are likely to put in more limits to vehicle movements. The move toward reducing CO2, cutting congestion, improving air quality and protecting pedestrians and bike riders and other vulnerable road users means any organisation reliant on vans and lorries will have to rethink their logistics.


The City of London has ambitious goals that others might follow. They estimate that freight vehicles make up a quarter of motorised traffic in the City, increasing to 32% between 7am and 10am. So, they want to reduce the number of motorised freight vehicles on the Square Mile’s streets in the peak periods by 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2044. But they also want to reduce the number of motorised freight vehicles overall by 15% by 2030 and 30% by 2044. Construction traffic makes up a big proportion of this – a lot of it starting in builders merchants’ yards.


This is not unique to London. Nottingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester, particularly, have similar goals. So, can movements of goods and materials be done differently? In London, support service organisations like facilities management companies and suppliers of cleaning materials pay out thousands of pounds in fuel, parking fines and congestion charges. Traffic management restrictions will make this worse, not better.


It’s time to rethink logistics. A good place to start is with someone like Michael Barratt, development impact assessment manager for Transport for London (TfL). His main job


28


is to ask developers, builders and their supply chain – including merchants to think again about the construction logistics of a project. Can it be adjusted to minimise the impact on the community, the environment and other traffic? As part of that work he has been trialling the concept of using bicycles to move materials – powered assisted cargo bikes. What are they? They are a bike popular in the Netherlands and Denmark where they are frequently seen to be moving objects ranging from fridges and sofas to building materials and groceries. Two wheels with a wide base for loads, three wheels or four – the options come with rain covers, cabs and can move upwards of 150kg and with a trailer over 500kg. What’s more organisations ranging from Speedy Hire, HSS, Sir Robert McAlpine and Morgan Sindall have all been using them – and like them.


Through Barratt’s instigation TfL has helped to arrange over 100 deliveries to sites including Crossrail, Tideway and HS2,


with the involvement of contractors like FM Conway, Mace as well as and Morgan Sindall. His role is to find innovation and efficiencies on construction projects within the M25, collaborating with councils, communities and industries.


As an advocate of e-cargo bikes, he liaises with contractors and introduces them to companies such as passenger and cargo service Pedal Me and zero emissions logistics operator Zedify to see how suitable materials – lighting, hand tools, signage, bolts, nuts and screws to name just a few – could be transported to their sites around the capital. The bikes themselves vary, some offering a loading bed in front of the rider, and some carrying a trailer behind. Assisted by electric motors that typically offer around 250W of extra power, speed and power is governed by how hard the rider pushes the pedals. The bikes can generally carry up to 150kg, although certain models like Urban Arrow’s three-wheeled Tender can carry up


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2021


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88