The Changing Role of the Client in Driving Innovation for Design-build Projects: Stakeholders’ Perspective

Abstract

Clients undertake an important role in terms of both creating and promoting the right project conditions for realization of innovation, and understand and share the needs of both end-users and stakeholders. This study focuses on the changing role of the clients for the realization of innovation for design-build projects’ delivery process and evaluates the initiatives of the clients of involving new strategies, best practices and innovative management approaches in this process. A survey of residential, office and commercial construction projects in Turkish real estate sector has been conducted among the project stakeholders: private clients, real estate developers, consultants, and contractors. The client's role in innovation value chain stages (idea generation-conversion of ideas-diffusion of solutions) and its contribution to innovation performance is discussed in a conceptual framework.