A framework for assessing interventions to promote the implementation of material innovations on construction projects

Recent research has highlighted that the UK construction industry must accelerate the implementation of novel material solutions (NMS) with low embodied greenhouse gases (GHG) onto projects to decouple growth in construction activity from embodied GHG emissions. To reduce the risks in this process of transition, there is a need to examine the unsystematic promotion of interventions to encourage NMS implementation. Autoethnography was used with constructivist grounded theory in an abductive exploration of construction NMS (non-)implementation, synthesising qualitative data from interviews, surveys, participatory and non-participatory observations with the existing literature. Adopting the specification decision as the appropriate unit of analysis, the research applied a novel morphogenetic perspective of structure and agency to develop a new framework in which the NMS specification decision could be located and assessed. The framework contributes to both theory and practice by allowing a systematic exploration of the specification decision and its elaborating impacts enabling the selection of case-appropriate interventions to influence project actors' capability, opportunity and motivations to implement NMS on projects. The research provides insights for policy makers, practitioners and researchers wishing to promote NMS. The model highlights the critical influence of the timing of sanctionable project decisions, the availability of sufficient project resources, and the client's project performance objectives on successful NMS implementation on projects.