The ISO19650 standard proposed a common data environment (CDE) as a single source of truth for all project information that facilitates continuous collaboration between stakeholders. In practice, multiple CDEs are used simultaneously, leading to a lack of data integrity, traceability and transparency. Moreover, current centralised cloud-based CDEs are vulnerable to security risks such as data manipulation which magnifies the lack of trust among project stakeholders. Previous studies, proposing blockchain for information management focus on narrow use cases and do not encompass the whole lifecycle of a built asset. This work aims to develop a framework for decentralised information management in relation to all phases of the lifecycle. First, we identify the needs of the users for a CDE using desk research and an empirical approach including semi-structured interviews with industry experts. It is found that the top user requirement is integrating data scattered across multiple CDEs along the built asset's lifecycle in a single source of truth. A CDE should provide an accountable and transparent record of the entire project history integrating data from various tools utilised during the lifecycle. In the final step, we propose a conceptual framework for a blockchain-based CDE where transactions from various tools used along the entire lifecycle of a built asset are recorded on a blockchain linked with Inter-Planetary File Storage (IPFS) to increase the security of the files. Three illustrative use-case scenarios demonstrate the framework's applicability in design, construction, and operation phases. The utilisation of blockchain technology ensures an immutable, independent, and reliable record of all transactions, offering a comprehensive and tamperproof history. This approach not only addresses existing gaps in previous studies but also lays the foundation for establishing trustworthy Product and Material Passports.

Digital transformation in projects disrupts how project-oriented organizations recognize and value skills and expertise of new data-savvy talents. Existing research on digitalization in projects has focused mainly on technologies that can help organizations and people achieve, without connecting the implications these technologies have on human and social capital in project environments. This research goes beyond this dominant technocratic view to examine talent management for project management professionals operating in an increasingly digitalized and data-rich world. Through a purposive sample of 24 semistructured interviews with diverse project management experts across industry, academia, and professional institutions, our findings extend talent management scholarship in two ways. First, unlike scholarship on talent management that hitherto has emphasized identification and recruitment of talents, our interviewees placed more attention on developing and retaining talents. Second, whereas talent management scholarship can identify pivotal roles that can secure competitive advantage, our research highlights the importance of data-savvy expertise to interact with nondigital project management expertise in order for such pivotal roles to succeed in project contexts. Strategies are proposed for new directions in talent management practices based on our proposed buy–lease–make model for talent management in project-oriented organizations.

Digitalization has progressed rapidly, pervading almost all functions in organizations. Whereas digitization denotes the move from analog to digital information advanced by the arrival of new technologies for smart working (Bednar and Welch, 2020; Painter et al., 2016), all aspects of the work environment feel the impact of digitalization, including project environments. Digitalization is a system-wide change process (Gartner, 2013; Ross, 2017), one with fundamental implications as a first step towards digital transformation of how businesses and economies operate (Marnewick and Marnewick, 2022). Digitalization is reshaping the fundamentals of project management, stimulating innovation of new tools, co-working paradigms and learning that collaborates with machine intelligence in addressing the growing complexity of projects and their environment. From initiation to operation, digital technologies afford opportunities to enhance collaboration, decision-making, and sustainability, presenting opportunities for revisiting foundational project scholarship and practice. In this editorial a collection of twelve scholarly contributions are highlighted that showcase diverse perspectives, theoretical advances and societal impact of digitalization across projects.

A common data environment (CDE) is defined as a single source of truth for all project information that facilitates continuous collaboration between stakeholders. In practice, multiple CDEs are used simultaneously, leading to a lack of data integrity, traceability, and transparency. Moreover, current centralized cloud-based CDEs are vulnerable to security risks such as data manipulation, which magnifies the lack of trust among project stakeholders. Previous studies proposing blockchain for information management focused on narrow use cases and did not encompass the whole life cycle of a built asset. This work aims to develop a framework for decentralized information management concerning all life cycle phases. First, we identify the users’ needs for a CDE using desk research and an empirical approach, including semistructured interviews with industry experts. It is found that the top user requirement is integrating data scattered across multiple CDEs along the built asset’s life cycle in a single source of truth. A CDE should provide an accountable and transparent record of the entire project history, integrating data from various tools utilized during the life cycle. In the final step, we propose a conceptual framework for a blockchain-based CDE where transactions from various tools used along the entire life cycle of a built asset are recorded on a blockchain linked with Inter-Planetary File Storage (IPFS) to increase the security of the files. Three illustrative use-case scenarios demonstrate the framework’s applicability in the design, construction, and operation phases. The utilization of blockchain technology ensures an immutable, independent, and reliable record of all transactions, offering a comprehensive and tamper-proof history. This approach addresses gaps in previous studies and lays the foundation for establishing trustworthy product and material passports.

Purpose
This study aims to establish relationships between organizational attributes and strategies for developing accurate digital twins (DTs) of constructed facilities. To achieve this aim, the study objectives are: (1) identify the key organizational attributes and strategies, (2) develop underlying constructs among the organizational attributes and strategies, and (3) model the relationships between the underlying constructs of organizational attributes and strategies.

Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry professionals identified twenty-one organizational attributes and thirty organizational strategies. Through a survey, 129 AECO industry professionals evaluated the criticality of the organizational attributes and strategies. The collected data were analyzed using normalized mean analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and partial least-squares structural equation modeling.

Findings
The analyses identified eleven and twenty key organizational attributes and strategies. Furthermore, the organizational attributes and strategies can be categorized into two (organizational DT capabilities and technological capabilities requirements) and three (organizational competitiveness and investments, organizational workforce management and training, and organizational management capabilities) underlying constructs. Finally, organizational DT capabilities significantly impact the need for all three underlying constructs of organizational strategies, whereas technological capabilities requirements do not. These findings indicate that strategic initiatives should be driven by organizational and human-centric attributes, including leadership, strategic planning, and talent development, rather than on technological readiness alone, challenging assumptions that technological readiness is the catalyst for strategy deployment in DT development.

Originality/value
This is the first study that models the relationships between organizational attributes and strategies for developing accurate DTs of constructed facilities.

Sociotechnical transitions are mostly seen in the literature as processes where actors and technologies in small niches peripheral to an organizational field, accumulate momentum, scale up, aggregate, and eventually bring about large-scale regime change. Foundational examples include the British transition from sailing ships to steamships and the American transition from traditional factories to mass production. Herein lies a paradox, transitions concern large scale system change for example transition to electric cars or renewable energy, but large-scale options for technological change driven by incumbents have received less attention in transitions research. This is an important opportunity for transition research to draw on the literature of project management research on large-scale projects. We bridge transitions research and project management research by exploring speciation and aggregation from both perspectives. We illustrate how this bridge may be instantiated drawing on published research and interviews on six megaprojects that have been instrumental in the digital transformation of UK construction: (i) the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, (ii) Heathrow Terminal 5, (iii) London Olympics, (iv) Crossrail, (v) Thames Tideway and (vi) High Speed Two. The speciation of digital technology seeds the process of aggregation and UK industry transition which is driven by incumbents at the organizational field core and ripples outward to its periphery. This is a reverse process to the one mostly considered in transition research where change initiates in small niches peripheral to an organizational field and propagates until it eventually brings about large-scale change to its core.

Purpose
This research investigates the distinct characteristics of blockchain technology to safeguard against the deterioration of handover information quality in the post-construction phase. The significance of effective management of handover information is highlighted by global building failures, such as the Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK. Despite existing technological interventions, there remains a paucity of understanding regarding the factors contributing to the decline in the quality of handover information during the post-construction phase.

Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a multi-case studies approach across five higher education institutions. It involved conducting semi-structured interviews with 52 asset management professionals, uncovering the underlying reasons for the decline in handover information quality. Building on these insights, the study performed a mapping exercise to align these identified factors with blockchain technology features and information quality dimensions, aiming to evaluate blockchain’s potential in managing quality handover information.

Findings
The study findings suggest that blockchain technology offers advantages but has limitations in addressing all the identified quality issues of managing handover information. Due to the lack of an automated process and file-based information exchange, updating handover information still requires an error-prone manual process, leading to potential information loss. Additionally, no solutions are available for encoding drawings for updates and validation.

Originality/value
This study proposes a framework integrating blockchain to enhance the information management process and improve handover information quality.

Digital Fabrication (DFAB) faces challenges in project delivery due to various barriers, such as its complex technical processes and unclear benefits. However, there is no specific research on project delivery methods for DFAB. This study conducts a comparative case study to understand the delivery of projects with varying degrees of DFAB implementation. Modularity theory is used as a lens to explore project delivery methods. This study tentatively proposes strategies for establishing potential project delivery methods for DFAB. The research identifies three key characteristics: 1) the adoption of modular products and processes, 2) the adoption of an integral type of project delivery method, and 3) the significant role of informal relationships in project delivery. The study finds that misalignment relationships at the product, process, and supply chain levels, namely the combination of modular products and processes with integral supply chains, have fostered flexibility and coordination in DFAB project delivery. Theoretically, this study discusses the symbiosis and interrelationship between modularity and integration within the context of project delivery. Practitioners can build on these strategies to establish project delivery methods.

Purpose Information management workflow in building information modelling (BIM)-based collaboration is based on using a common data environment (CDE). The basic premise of a CDE is exposing all relevant data as a single source of truth and facilitating continuous collaboration between stakeholders. A multitude of tools can be used as a CDE, however, it is not clear how the tools are used or if they fulfil the users’ needs. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate current practices of using CDEs for information management during the whole built asset’s life cycle, through a state-of-the-art literature review and an empirical study. Design/methodology/approach Literature data is collected according to the PRISMA 2020 guideline for reporting systematic reviews. This paper includes 46 documents in the review and conduct a bibliometric and thematic analysis to identify the main challenges of digital information management. To understand the current practice and the views of the stakeholders using CDEs in their work, this paper used an empirical approach including semi-structured interviews with 15 BIM experts. Findings The results indicate that one of the major challenges of CDE adoption is project complexity and using multiple CDEs simultaneously leading to data accountability, transparency and reliability issues. To tackle those challenges, the use of novel technologies in CDE development such as blockchain could be further investigated. Originality/value The research explores the major challenges in the practical implementation of CDEs for information management. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on this topic combining a systematic literature review and fieldwork.

Amidst the disruptive backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations are navigating toward a new normal, leveraging digital technologies to reconfigure business processes and operational practices. This study delves into the transformative effects of digitalization on project management, with a focus on integrating data-savvy talent in a data-rich era. Employing a mixed methods approach, data were collected from June to November 2022, providing a comprehensive blend of various perspectives. Quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted successively in this study to explore the formation mechanism of digital competence of talents in project management and analyze the practical experience and expectations on the impact of data-savvy talents on project management. This study highlights the crucial role of organizations in actively shaping digital competencies to align with the changing demands of project management. It also emphasizes the increasing importance of data-savvy talents, whose intrinsic understanding of digital technologies and business models is essential in transforming the project management landscape. The outcomes of this study offer both theoretical insights into the nexus of digital competence, talent management, and project management, and practical guidelines for effectively integrating new talents into project management practices.

Purpose
Off-Site Construction (OSC) has received much government and public attention during and after COVID. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an initiative discussed widely to promote OSC implementation. Although many policy promotions have been published, there are many challenges to implementing BIM and OSC in real life and questions of whether they really offer value to healthcare design professionals. This research aims to investigate BIM and OSC to understand their commonalities and differences of challenges by collecting empirical evidence from China’s healthcare construction.

Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory research adopted a mixed method with a questionnaire survey and interviews. A total of 261 questionnaires were received (with 183 valid), followed by 31 semi-structured interviews.

Findings
This research reveals that although both OSC and BIM face similar adoption challenges and suspicious attitudes in real-life projects, their challenges’ connotations and reasons are different. OSC faces scepticism for its customisation costs and technical constraints, while BIM is seen as limited in utility and complex to integrate. Highlighting these as socio-technical challenges, the research advocates for an integrated framework to effectively implement OSC and BIM, addressing both technical and collaborative needs in healthcare construction.

Originality/value
This research examines OSC and BIM within the context of healthcare construction, a focus that is relatively underexplored. The research provides a juxtaposition of the perceived and practical challenges of adopting these technologies, revealing a gap between the industry’s expectations and the current capabilities of OSC and BIM, thereby contributing to the development of modern methods of design in healthcare.

Modularity is an approach to simplify systems and reduce complexity. However, existing research suggests that a mono-dimensional modularity strategy, focusing solely on one dimension, such as product, process, or organization, might not fully achieve these goals in design activities. This research investigates how combining strategies from various dimensions of modularity can reduce the complexity of large-scale engineering design. The Huoshenshan Hospital, a 1,000-bed hospital designed and built in 10 days, provided an extreme case study of the first emergency hospital to address COVID-19. The research identified 10 different aspects, termed ‘proximities’, which relate to how people perceive the four dimensions of modularity, specifically across organization–process–product–supply-chain dimensions. Additionally, it identified three types of reinforcement relationships aimed at diminishing complexity in design activities: modular alignment (i.e., synchronized alignment and asynchronous alignment), modular complementarity (i.e., subtraction complement and addition complement), and modular incentive relationships. This research highlights that these three types of reinforcement relationships between different dimensions of modularity can reduce complexity, allowing subsystems to support the system in working as a whole.

Purpose:
This study aims to investigate the complexity factors associated with BIM-enabled projects. BIM has been widely promoted as a potential solution to numerous challenges that hinder productivity in construction projects, owing to its numerous advantages. Nevertheless, it is crucial to acknowledge the heightened complexity it introduces to project workflows, stakeholder coordination and information management.

Design/methodology/approach:
This study employs the Delphi method to identify and extract complexity factors specific to BIM-enabled projects. A panel of industry and academic experts is engaged to discern and prioritise these factors based on their expertise and knowledge.

Findings:
The study reveals a comprehensive list of 34 complexity factors that significantly impact BIM-enabled projects. Among the most influential factors are laws and regulations, variety of procurement methods, technical capabilities of teams, project manager competence, information transfer capacity, range of project deliverables and diversity of project locations. The findings highlight the importance of these factors and emphasise the need for proactive and adaptive management to navigate their impact and achieve positive project outcomes.

Originality/value:
This study introduces the DEBACCS framework, a metric-based model designed to understand and evaluate complexity within BIM-enabled projects. DEBACCS stands for seven key dimensions: diversity, emergence, belonging, autonomy, connectivity, context and size. These dimensions represent essential aspects for gauging project complexity. By applying the concept of complexity from project management to BIM, the study offers valuable insights for practitioners and researchers. It provides a unique perspective on the challenges and considerations associated with implementing and managing BIM in construction projects. The findings have practical value for practitioners, enabling them to better understand and address the implications of complexity in BIM-enabled projects, ultimately leading to improved project outcomes.

The upsurge of digitalization in many sectors has been associated with better environmental outcomes. Recent policy change and international convergence has shown Net Zero (NZ) vision as a means of controlling global greenhouse gas emissions. This article focuses on construction sector and the complex transition to NZ through digital twins (DTs). It does so via a system thinking approach, 53 interviews, and 2 focus groups with DT experts. The key factors of this dual 'digital and green' transition are breaking down silos, collaborating across the supply chain and the need for a data-oriented approach in analyzing input, processing, and output of the DTs. Apart from unravelling the factors on how individual (asset) DTs can support NZ, their aggregates in a connected DT system of systems are also crucial to addressing the complexity of this transition at a larger scale. The article also offers new insights on the orchestrators of such system of DT systems and their governance mechanisms in meeting NZ. Additionally, one emergent finding relates to the evolution of associated concepts and terminologies. By identifying the complexity factors, this article also contributes to the management of increased risk that accompanies growing complexity.

In today’s society, project work gains traction across many industries. As projects are characterised by novelty and uncertainty, emerging digital technologies promise solutions that improve performance and help deliver full benefits. Amidst this digitisation, digital technologies such as data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) streamline the large amount of data generated. However, this critical information is only partially leveraged during and after projects to date. Project data are generated, collected, and analysed across all stages of project management and delivery. Eleni Papadonikolaki and Carlos Galera-Zarco conceptualise the relation between projects, information, and data, and discuss key application areas of data analytics in projects, for instance in scheduling and costing. Next, they present the state-of-the-art applications, means, and tools of data analytics in key areas of project management. Finally, they set out challenges and future opportunities around project data analytics especially with regard to leadership, teamwork, and talent management.

Healthcare facilities play a key role in responding United Nations goals, such as sustainability, health and welling. The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has driven much attention to expanding healthcare capacity through advanced digital technologies, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM). Nevertheless, a systematic review of research achievements is lacking. This research uses bibliometric and systemic literature review methods to investigate BIM applications in Healthcare Design and Construction (HDC). The bibliometric investigation focuses on country, journal co-citation, and keyword clustering analyses. The systematic review classifies application domains, BIM actions, and other digital technologies accompanying BIM. Finally, 17 major BIM actions are summarized for six major domains, including operability, resilience, collaboration, sustainability and constructability. This study reveals that the outbreak of COVID-19 has greatly stimulated the academic interest in digital technologies for HDC, and there is geographical uniqueness highly relevant to local government policies and national healthcare services. However, related research is still in a relatively preliminary stage.

The construction industry increasingly recognizes the potential benefits of cyber-physical systems, particularly Digital Twin (DT) technology, within the framework of Industry 4.0 and Construction 4.0. However, there remains a lack of clarity regarding the specific contributions of DT to the construction sector, often conflated with Building Information Modeling (BIM). This paper aims to address this ambiguity by conducting a historical review of DTs, delineating their key features, and elucidating the opportunities they offer throughout the stages of constructed facilities' life. Additionally, this paper outlines potential research trajectories and practical applications for leveraging DTs to enhance construction project delivery.

This study aims to use modularity to impact various facets of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) and explore the relationship between product modularity, process modularity, and DfMA within the context of Offsite Construction (OSC). The study fills this gap through an exploratory single case study by identifying perceptual measures of these three concepts. The study shows the alignment between multi-dimensionality of modularity, such as product modularity and process modularity, enhances the capability of DfMA. From a modularity perspective, the reconfiguration of abstraction, information hiding, and interface is an essential strategy to change the traditional design process. This reconfiguration is to adapt to the new scenarios brought by OSC and digital fabrication technologies and the new design tasks associated with these scenarios. This study has theoretical implications for the modular approach to DfMA and practical implications for those who expect digital fabrication techniques in offsite construction.

Over the last decades, numerous automated compliance checking (ACC) systems have been developed. However, ACC is still not broadly used in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry today; little is known as to how ACC can be better accepted by the end users. This paper reports on a multicase study to learn valuable lessons from recent attempts to adopt ACC systems worldwide. Firstly, 18 semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 experts from eight countries, and supplementary data (e.g., documents, product information, and literature) related to each case were collected. Secondly, the interview and supplementary data were then coded to develop prominent themes. Thirdly, through a cross-case analysis, the 12 most determining variables that could influence the ACC adoption were identified. Three path models that explain the interrelationships between these variables and 10 propositions that can guide future ACC adoption were deduced. The results indicate that the government should play an important role to facilitate ACC adoption through funding, policies, and incentives. This study also provides valuable information to software vendors for delivering ACC systems that meet the needs of the industry, and for innovation managers in the industry to develop appropriate adoption plans for the ACC technology.

Purpose: Rapid advancements in blockchain technology transform various sectors, attracting the attention of industrialists, practitioners, policymakers and academics, and profoundly affect construction businesses through smart contracts and crypto-economics. This paper explores the blockchain innovation ecosystem in construction. Design/methodology/approach: Through a qualitative study of 23 diverse interviewees, the study explores how open or closed the blockchain innovation ecosystem in construction is and who its emerging orchestrators are. Findings: The data showed that construction aims towards an open innovation blockchain ecosystem, although there are elements of hybridisation and closedness, each system pointing out to different orchestrators. Practical implications: The study has implications for governments and large companies in construction, showing that open innovation initiatives need to be encouraged by policymakers through rules, regulations and government-sponsored demonstrator projects. Social implications: The data showed that there is lack of readiness for business model change to support open innovation blockchain ecosystems in construction. Originality/value: This is the first study applying the open innovation theory in the construction industry and sheds light into the phenomenon of blockchain, suggesting routes for further democratisation of the technology for policymakers and practitioners.