The construction and infrastructure sector is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions, necessitating substantial changes to support, what can be called, the sustainability transition. Public infrastructure clients are expected to lead this transition by promoting construction innovation, while engineering consultants, involved in the planning and design of projects, play a key role in supporting these efforts. Public procurement is widely recognized – politically – as a key strategic tool for promoting innovation and advancing sustainability, despite the project-based sector the role of project management remains largely overlooked. However, previous research highlights the importance of both procurement and project management strategies in promoting construction innovation. To effectively promote innovation, these strategies must be adapted to the specific characteristics of each project and should emphasize flexibility and involvement of actors. Despite the procurement and project management strategies’ acknowledged significance, they are often treated as separate governance mechanisms within previous research, failing to account for their interconnected nature.

The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how a public infrastructure client promotes innovation towards the sustainability transition through adaptation of procurement and project management strategies in planning and design of new infrastructure. A longitudinal single-case study of the largest public infrastructure client in Sweden, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), provides empirical insights.

The findings show that despite high expectations for public clients to promote innovation – especially in designated pilot projects – these projects are evaluated and managed through conventional linear processes, short-term goals, and paradigms. While innovation is acknowledged as a multidimensional concept requiring flexibility and collaboration, procurement and project management strategies remain predominantly control-oriented, emphasizing efficiency, problem-solving, and monitoring. This approach is found to limit the perceived promotion and impact of construction innovation in practice.

By problematizing the concept of comprehensive governance – integrating procurement and project management – this thesis highlights how public clients’ reliance on detailed process control and the aligning with a hard paradigm, which is not well-suited to promote construction innovation. The research underscores the interdependence of procurement and project management strategies, advocating for a holistic governance perspective in construction management research and practice. Addressing this interconnection, both within research and practice, is crucial for developing strategies that effectively promotes construction innovation supporting the sustainability transition in public infrastructure projects.