Renewal in construction projects: tracing effects of client requirements

Abstract

Several studies identify clients as important drivers of innovation in the construction industry. How clients contribute to innovation is however less investigated. In two case studies of health care construction projects, we investigate how client requirements create renewal in the form of intra- as well as inter-project effects. Using an inter-organizational framework of actors, resources and activities (the ARA model), it is possible to identify a variation of effects. The paper concludes that both client requirements and their associated renewal effects are results of interaction in time as well as space. Renewal effects crossing individual projects are dependent on relationships among two or more actors that continue to interact in subsequent projects. In addition, these effects relate to several dimensions of interaction and include how actors relate in new ways, how resources are combined and how activities are organized. Thus, by adopting an interactive perspective, it is possible to reveal how construction clients can contribute to renewal such as innovation and learning, directly and indirectly, within and across projects. Finally, we suggest that managers need to consider the role of long-term business relationships in achieving increased renewal in construction.

Keywords:

• Client
• innovation
• inter-firm collaboration
• networks
• project
• renewal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. There are exceptions, however, showing how, when possible, construction actors interact intensively across several projects resulting in both technological and organizational renewal (e.g. Crespin-Mazet and Ghauri, 2007; Crespin-Mazet et al., 2015).