Published Paper Details:

A large amount of material, labour, equipment and energy is lost as waste throughout the life cycle of construction projects. Material waste can reach double-digit percentages for key products such as concrete, masonry units, timber and finishing materials, while process waste can cause unnecessary labour, waiting time and avoidable transportation. These inefficiencies drive cost overruns, schedule delays and environmental impacts, yet they are often treated as side effects rather than symptoms of sub-optimal resource management. Resource optimisation and waste reduction can be addressed through a unified management framework. This paper builds on concepts from lean construction, highlighting lean production control and digital tools as key enablers. To make these concepts actionable for practitioners, the paper introduces stage-wise tables of strategies, a conceptual figure linking resource decisions to waste streams, and key performance indicators for monitoring materials, labour, equipment and schedule performance. Implementation challenges related to organisational fragmentation, information gaps, capacity constraints and technology integration are discussed, and recommendations are provided for embedding resource optimisation into everyday project practice.