News Article Retail construction site in Poland goes for proptech
by Property Forum | Retail

ProperGate has signed a cooperation agreement with CFE. The intelligent logistics management system, developed by ProperGate, will be pilot tested at the construction site of one of the biggest retail centres in the Mazury district.


ProperGate helps construction companies plan and monitor their activities, increasing transparency in the construction process. Increasing predictability by reducing the stress of not being well-informed also reduces the chaos that every construction site faces on a daily basis. By optimizing site logistics and related tasks on large and complex skyscrapers projects, Propergate system can generate up to 15% savings in project costs.

ProperGate in the shopping centre construction project carried out by CFE will be able to support the introduction of the lean construction methodology and deliveries arriving at the construction site just-in-time. It will help monitor resources at the construction site and automate reporting on progress as well.

Testing the new software on a retail project will make it easier for the CFE team to familiarize themselves with the new approach to planning and implementing the logistics of materials supply on the construction site. Using the Propergate system, the company can improve its logistics processes both at the construction sites of retail projects, but also office buildings, housing estates, and warehouse projects.

The ProperGate system will be implemented at the construction site of one of the biggest retail centres in Mazury - Karuzela Ełk. CFE - a general contractor belonging to the Belgian CFE Group, will be responsible for the construction process.

“The cooperation with CFE will allow us to gather experience related to retail projects. Our goal is to expand our system's capabilities. So far, we have been focused primarily on office and residential projects. Cooperation with CFE is an important milestone in the development of ProperGate,” says Rafał Grudzień, CEO of ProperGate.

The Karuzela Ełk shopping centre developed by CFE Poland will have an area of 18,000 sqm.

“The efficiency of construction processes still leaves much to be desired. CFE's experience shows that every construction project has a lot of repeatable tasks. All construction sites are governed by similar processes and we face similar challenges. Based on the data that is collected using digital tools, many processes can be standardized, analysed and improved. A topic that is increasingly discussed in the construction industry is the introduction of Lean methodology in our activities, which allows us to optimize the way we work on a given project. The main goal of this methodology is to effectively complete the tasks in the most efficient way.  We see huge potential in solutions such as Propergate and want to use them to improve our construction processes,” says Bruno Lambrecht, General Manager of CFE.

Thanks to ProperGate’s solutions, general contractors can use the system to control and monitor the flow of materials supplied by subcontractors, with whom they have easy contact with due to ProperGate platform. Investors, in turn, have a tool to check the progress of the work of general contractors in terms of materials needed to complete the works. On the other hand, subcontractors gain a tool for planning and tracking the supplies of necessary materials, which will prevent them from downtime at work.

According to empirical data, construction workers lose approx. 55-65% of their time waiting for deliveries to be made. The use of ProperGate system means that every delivery arrives at the construction site just in time, availability and location of materials is well-known, and the entire construction process is more balanced and transparent.