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In the course of a study of mega building construction projects in Germany, the need arose to identify and analyze the characteristics of the local construction culture, particularly upon realization that these characteristics may constitute significant contextual factors in equipment and site logistics planning. The study of the German building construction culture was based on (1) a focused literature review; (2) case studies of multicrane construction sites; and (3) structured interviews with experts of various professions from the German construction industry. The findings highlight the role of the following factors: (1) the typical German professional character; (2) various systems of contractual relationships; (3) state and city regulations; (4) technology and industrialization; (5) workforce sources; (6) rooted safety culture; (7) protection of the environment; (8) the crane market; (9) relationships between planning, engineering, and construction; (10) logistics concepts; and (11) additional unique features of Berlin as a major construction hub. Some of the German culture characteristics detected were further supported by a comparison with other advanced European construction cultures.

Mega building projects typically employ numerous tower cranes covering the entire area of the building footprint and staging areas with multiple overlapping work envelopes. This paper aims to answer the following question: Are the determinants of crane selection for mega building projects similar to projects serviced by a small number of cranes? On-site interviews found: (1) the visibility of the crane forest in the surroundings of the project affects the approach to crane selection; (2) various modes of action are taken by project management to share information with the neighboring residents and business and to ease the hardships of living and working near a busy construction site; and (3) cranes are often selected and located such that they could dismantle other cranes, due to difficulties of using a dismantling mobile crane in the depth of the crane array.