Reconciling construction innovation and standardisation on major projects

The concepts underlying innovation and standardisation presents an apparent divergence in what each strives to achieve. In the view of the authors, this has contributed in no small measure to the low take-up of standardisation within the construction sector as organisations strive to be innovative to improve on their performance and attain continuous improvement in their processes and operations as well as design solutions. The paper presents as a case, how one major public sector outfit is striving to achieve innovation within an agenda that involves a widespread adoption of standardisation. It presents the motivations for adopting an organisation-wide agenda on innovation and standardisation, identifies the elements of apparent incongruity between the concepts, and outlines how the case organisation has resolved the divergences.