Jones, Kell; Stegemann, Julia; Carris, Jo; Winslow, Peter; (2015) Overcoming barriers to the adoption of novel materials in the UK construction industry. In: (Proceedings) WASCON 2015 – Resource Efficiency in Construction. ISCOWA: Santander, Spain.

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Abstract

In the face of lowest cost tendering the UK construction industry has become locked into a path-dependent improvement trajectory of cost and risk optimization. Achieving sustainable development requires the decoupling of economic growth from the use of non-renewable resources and creates an emergent improvement trajectory of resource efficiency. Many barriers to the adoption of new materials and techniques in construction, including closed-loop and secondary materials, have been identified. This paper places these barriers in the context of a model of human behaviour which provides a framework for understanding the underlying causes of the barriers to adoption. An empirical study explores contexts in which barriers to adoption are overcome, finding that some designers are motivated to adopt new resource efficient approaches for any number of reasons. However, the opportunities to include the materials in projects are limited by resistance arising from perceived increases in costs and risks. Successful adoptions arose where the use of the new material satisfied a constraint which other construction techniques were unable to meet and clients were convinced of the materials appropriateness and cost effectiveness.

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