Making the zero-carbon standard home: understanding project-firm innovation in UK house building

The proposed research explores the significant challenge which the carbon reduction agenda poses for UK house builders. Focusing on the development of new products and processes at the project level and their diffusion across a large multi-regional firm we will ask key research questions that include: How can construction firms take advantage of project-level innovations? How can they meet the challenges which progressive carbon reduction targets currently pose? How do these innovations travel across large, complex firms? And how do standards shape innovations and how do innovations feed into ongoing changes in standard practice? The proposed research explores these questions by examining the development, uptake and diffusion of technical innovations from Hanham Hall, an experimental housing development which Barratt Developments has used to address the 2016 requirement that all new homes meet a zero-carbon standard. Barratt Developments is one of the largest house builders in the UK. The house builder has four brands and had an average of around 400 active sites at any one time across 25 divisions.

The question of how specific technical innovations from Hanham Hall are being diffused and stabilised across Barratt Developments addresses some of the core challenges for the mainstreaming of zero-carbon standard buildings. While many scholars highlight the challenges of cross-project learning and the diffusion of innovations, little empirical or theoretical work has been done on the 'anchoring of innovations' at the firm-level. Similarly, little work has been done on the travel of innovations across projects within a large, multi-regional firm. This problem is especially pressing when one takes into account the ambitious upcoming carbon reduction targets and the largely organisational nature of the challenge. As a number of observers have noted, the sector knows how to build low-carbon buildings on experimental developments; what it does not know how to do is to incorporate that know-how into standard practice.

The research questions are informed by the application of actor-network theory and neo-institutionalism to the study of key technical innovations at Hanham Hall across Barratt Developments:

(1) to identify and explain the development of a number of key product and process innovations at Hanham Hall in response to carbon reduction requirements;

(2) to examine the impact of those innovations on firm-level practices (including supply chains, procurement, internal management systems, business models, policies and strategies);

(3) to follow the introduction of those innovations into other Barratt Developments housing projects and to document similarities and differences in project-level accommodation to those elements;

(4) to use this analysis to theorise processes of innovation, diffusion and stabilisation/institutionalisation (in firm-level strategies, systems and practices) within large, project-based firms; and,

(5) to contrast the findings produced by the deployment of neo-institutionalism and actor-network theory in the study of a single complex empirical case.

The focal case study research will draw upon the analysis of documents, relevant artefacts, in-depth interviews and observations. The analysis of these sources will allow the team to trace the associations and movement of people and objects across multiple Barratt Development sites.

BENEFICIARIES OF RESEARCH
(1) Barratt Developments and other project stakeholders including members of Barratt's extensive supply chains and partner local authorities and housing associations.

(2) The construction industry through the project's 'pathways to impact' partners (see Statements of Support). The new build housing sector 'pathways to impact' partners are the National House Building Council Foundation (the NHBC is the largest home warranty provider in England and Wales, accounting for 80% of all new homes, and has 18,000 house builders and developers on its Register), the Home Builders Federation (whose membership delivers over 80% of all new homes of all new homes in England and Wales) and the Zero Carbon Hub (which advises the UK Government on the specification of the zero-carbon standard). The broader construction industry 'pathways to impact' partners are Constructing Excellence (the largest cross-construction sector member-led organisation that supports continuous improvement in industry performance and was established in response to the UK Government's Latham and Egan industry reform initiatives) and the Structural Timber Association (the focal trade association of structural timber products and systems in the UK with over 200 members).

(3) The wider community (through engagement with key stakeholders such as the BIS, DECC, Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group, CLG, and the UK Green Building Council).


ACTIVITIES TO INSURE THAT POTENTIAL BENEFICIARIES CAN ENGAGE WITH THE RESEARCH
COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT: The research team will develop a regularly updated stakeholder analysis and engagement strategy, to be developed in consultation with industry and pathways to impact partners (see above). The strategy will begin with targeted communications and events for the project 'impact partners'. A strategy for reaching the wider community will be developed in collaboration with the same 'impact partners. This will include: (1) a project website, (2) press releases, (3) industry reports for public dissemination (to be distributed through the project website, university channels and impact partners' dissemination channels, including their own publications and websites), and (4) an industry workshop hosted by the Zero Carbon Hub in London for policy-makers and practitioners. The dissemination for the housing development beneficiaries will be run through the NHBC Foundation, Home Builders Federation, Zero Carbon Hub; broader construction and construction product suppliers through the Structural Timber Association and Constructing Excellence.

COLLABORATION AND CO-PRODUCTION: Collaboration with practitioners is an integral part of the research methodology adopted within the proposed study and the research partners have been active participants in the development of all aspects of the proposal. During the empirical work, the collaboration between the research team and the research collaborators will provide an invaluable way of 'road-testing' the way in which the new theory and practice-based developments from the project can be effectively communicated to other stakeholders. This will form a vital first step on the pathway to impact.