The effects of client’s requirements on construction innovation : A case study of the new Ångström Laboratory construction project

It has often been noted that the construction sector is quite inefficient in producing innovation especially when compared with other industries (Winch,2003). Moreover, innovation is becoming more and more a key competence in competitive environment of construction. Clients were found to play a pivotal role of clients in promoting construction innovation. However, how clients contribute to innovation is less investigated. Also, the construction project consists of a network of actors who interact with each other on different levels.These interactions affect and shape the requirements of the clients which then influence the innovation process of the construction project. It is important to take into account the several aspects of these interactions into consideration (Havenvid et al., 2016).The aim of this study is to investigate the role of clients in driving construction innovation by studying how their requirements may generate change within the project network. The second question aims to capture the different project actors’ views and perspective on construction innovation. This is done by conducting a case study on the construction project of the New Ångström Laboratory; an academic building of Uppsala University in Sweden. The data were collected following a qualitative approach. The results were analysed using ARA model (Actors, Activities and resources) framework.The study concludes that partnering can lead to an increase in productivity and efficiency of carrying out construction project work. The study also found that clients requirements can trigger innovation in a construction project. Another finding is that process innovation may generate greater effects on the actor's network than product innovations and suggest focusing on process innovation to accelerate the overall innovation process