The organizational nexus of changing management practices for sustainable renovation

Paper in proceeding, 2016

Ambitiously set governmental sustainability targets together with a run-down building stock in need of renovation force public construction client organisations to find sustainable and new ways to renovate. Besides technology development, these challenges require that sustainability targets are embedded in decision making practices. Focusing on organising processes and management practices related to sustainable renovation of public buildings in Sweden this paper outlines a future research proposal that acknowledges the intertwined relationship between multi-levelled processes in sustainable renovation, i.e. unveiling the organisational nexus of renovation management practice. Findings from an ongoing case study were analysed by applying an analytical lens inspired by the theoretical framework of institutional work. Focusing on organization processes and management practices the case concerns a ‘strategy development process’ for renovation of public pre-schools in Gothenburg, Sweden. In total six meeting observations and eleven interviews were conducted. A conceptual model describing the organizational nexus of changing management practice for sustainable renovation is presented, from which a set of critical research questions for further investigation is derived.