How Innovation Champions Frame the Future: Three Visions for Digital Transformation of Construction

Abstract

Digital technologies are expected to create transformational change in the construction sector. Previous studies have either anticipated the impact of individual technologies or outlined a number of nontechnology-focused future scenarios. There is comparatively little work on how innovation champions frame the future by combining a range of digital technologies and trends (such as big data, the internet of things, and automation) to transform construction. Drawing on an interview-based study with UK construction professionals, this paper presents three emergent visions for digital transformation of the sector. These visions are efficient construction, user-data-driven built environment, and value-driven computational design. Arising in practitioner narratives, these visions all emphasize different technologies and are partially influenced, intertwined, and interconnected with technology, business, and policy discourses in the sector. Furthermore, the visions represent different trajectories for implementing digital technologies in the construction sector. This paper contributes to work on construction foresight and innovation discourses by articulating the multiplicity of visions for digital transformation of construction. This has implications for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers responsible for the digital transformation of construction toward possible, profitable, and desirable futures.

Digitization of the property development industry: overview of current literature and research gaps

“…Only a few articles dealt with property developers. (Ernstsen et al, 2021) x (Pfnür & Wagner, 2020) x x (Olowa et al, 2020) x x (Ghosh et al, n.d.) x (Qian & Papadonikolaki, n.d.) x (Morgan, 2019) x x (Papadonikolaki et al, 2019) x x (Zeltser et al, 2019) x (García de Soto et al, 2019) x x (Bosch-Sijtsema & Gluch, 2019)…”

The Enigma of BIM

“…Moreover, they frequently pushed BIM as a panacea to the management of information with flagrant disregard for the unintended consequences of using digital practices to drive change. Mandating BIM for public or major projects is quite different to attempts at innovation in building construction through digital transformation [4].…”

Transforming the construction sector: an institutional complexity perspective

“…From the evidence provided in Table 1, the government identifies itself as a key actor to trigger innovation (cf. Sergeeva and Winch, 2020;Ernstsen et al, 2021), and responsibility for 'on-the-ground' actions through the delivery of projects and manufacture of products for built assets is strongly placed on construction firms in the supply chain network. With the Government interested in using public sector procurement to trigger transformation, construction firms involved in the delivery of public sector projects are expected to 'work more efficiently', develop capabilities the assumption that such 'top-down' pressures will be met with compliance often not being the case especially in construction (cf.…”

“…The 2016 BIM mandate, for instance, made it compulsory for all public sector projects to be delivered using BIM (Infrastructure and Projects Authorty (IPA), 2019), triggering a gradual – albeit slow – shift of the construction industry towards the use of more digital tools in the design and delivery of construction projects (NBS, 2020; Zomer et al , 2020). Sergeeva and Winch (2020) highlight this strong focus in exploration of how project-based firms in the UK respond to the government’s narrative of innovation, and Ernstsen et al (2021) also emphasise a similar point in exploring how innovation champions can create visions for transformation based on these same narratives. The Construction Playbook , recently published by the government, outlines how public sector procurement is going to be used to push for the adoption and use of these ‘transformational’ technologies in the industry (HM Government, 2020b).…”

“…Ongoing government-led construction industry transformation initiatives in the UK is one of such grand-scale change-seeking agenda (Sergeeva and Winch, 2020; Winch and Maytorena-Sanchez, 2020; Ernstsen et al , 2021). Indeed, the government, for several decades, has been identified as a notable actor able to trigger changes in the industry through the implementation of policy-based agenda, prioritising management-focused changes and gel the industry together by promoting collaborative practices (Latham, 1994; Egan, 1998).…”