Night Shift in Offsite and Hybrid Construction Delivery: Drivers, Challenges and a Decision Support Framework

Abstract

Night shift operations are a growing feature of offsite and hybrid construction delivery, driven by traffic management restrictions and programme demands that confine module transport, crane lifts, and structural installation to overnight windows. Night working is widely adopted across building, infrastructure, and civil engineering projects to accelerate delivery and recover schedule float, yet adoption decisions remain largely intuitive and unsupported by integrated analytical tools.

This paper presents a systematic literature review examining the drivers and challenges of night shift adoption across construction project types and introduces the Shift Strategy Decision Support System (SSDSS) as a conceptual framework to address the identified gap. Based on a review of construction scheduling, occupational health and safety, environmental compliance, stochastic modelling, and multicriteria optimisation literature, eleven drivers across three categories and fourteen challenges across four categories are identified.

The SSDSS integrates seven modules encompassing resource-constrained scheduling, fatigue and safety risk assessment, environmental compliance evaluation, and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) using AHP-TOPSIS. Worker safety and human factors are embedded as core planning parameters. The framework is designed for integration with BIM-based environments and establishes theoretical foundations for a digital decision support tool applicable across offsite, hybrid, and conventional construction projects.