Overcoming the barriers of green innovation in construction projects through its successful management

The construction industry has a significant opportunity to mitigate the harmful effects construction has on the natural environment. However, green innovations are far from becoming customary in construction as the industry is recognised as slow to adopt innovation. Consequently, to overcome barriers to the adoption of green innovation, it is important to understand how green innovation is defined and what are the obstacles, drivers and influences that affect how it is successfully managed. Through this research, involving a literature review, the collation and analysis of four semi-structured interviews and 60 questionnaire responses, green innovation can be defined as: a process that aims to maximise performance, while minimising environmental degradation, triggered by the need for a new outcome. The research indicates firstly that green innovation barriers consist of organisational, stakeholder and contractual obstacles and that to overcome these barriers and to increase demand, the industry needs more green innovation information available in order to define the ownership and balance cost and quality. Secondly, green innovation management and its adoption are also affected by the attitude, demographic and cognitive characteristics of the manager concerned. The research also shows that successful management of green innovation can be promoted by a culture that involves the whole project team and the evaluation of the project's management in order to document the success factors. Finally, the formation of a new green contract, or the amendment of the design build procurement path to outline the ownership of risk and the alignment of the construction aims and objectives, will promote green innovation adoption.