Innovation is often viewed as vital in addressing future demands on the construction industry, but innovation implementation is also considered challenging in this fragmented, project-based industry. In order to address the challenges, client organisations are commonly acknowledged as key actors in driving construction innovation. However, the details of what the client role constitutes is less clear, and the question of whether innovation should be mainly client-led or supplier-led is debated. The purpose in this paper is to explore different roles public client organisations can enact to promote innovation. To fulfil this purpose, an explorative case study has been conducted at the largest transport infrastructure client in Sweden; exploring two initiatives which have simultaneously been deployed to promote innovation. The studied organisation is on the one hand trying to influence the industry to implement Building Information Modelling (BIM), adopting a BIM policy and actively influencing the supply chain, while on the other hand promoting innovation through policies aimed at providing more flexibility in projects, enabling suppliers to propose new solutions and emphasising market competition. Even though the overarching goals are similar, promote innovation, the research finds that the simultaneous use of the policies create intra-organisational tension within the client organisation. The findings provide insights into the different roles clients can enact in promoting innovation, and contribute to the understanding of clients as a key actor for promoting innovation in the construction industry.

Purpose By adopting the “hard” and “soft” project management (PM) approaches from the PM-literature, this paper aims to problematize the expected role of client organizations in driving innovation in the transport infrastructure sector. Design/methodology/approach Addressing a large public client in Sweden, a case study design was initially applied to provide in-depth insights and perspectives of client project managers’ views and experiences of managing projects expected to drive innovation. In this paper, the concepts of “hard” and “soft” are used to discuss empirical findings on challenges associated with adopting a PM-approach for driving innovation in projects. The empirical material consists of interview data, complemented with observations and archival data. Findings Findings reveal challenges associated with combining hard and soft approaches, frequently demonstrating difficulties in balancing short-term project expectations with the promotion of innovation. In line with the literature, project managers note that there is a need for soft approaches to promote development and drive innovation. Yet, findings reflect a situation in which operational success criteria predominate, whereas soft approaches are not sufficiently used to create the grounds required for fostering innovation. Originality/value Insights are provided into how PM-approaches may impact construction innovation in the infrastructure sector, demonstrating a need for further research on the challenges and implications of applying and combining hard and soft PM-approaches.