Strategies for artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in sustainable construction projects: Evidence from consultancy and contracting firms

Rwanda tinyjaph21@gmail.com The construction industry faces significant pressure to embed sustainability across all project stages while remaining slow to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI). This study investigates strategies for AI adoption in sustainable construction projects, drawing on empirical evidence from consultancy and contracting firms. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey of 106 professionals and analysed through descriptive statistics, the Relative Importance Index (RII), the Mann-Whitney U test, and principal component analysis (PCA), the research identifies investing in education and training, determining the right dataset, and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration as the highest-priority AI adoption strategies. Statistically significant differences between consultants and contractors were found for site safety enhancement, deploying complex algorithms, implementing and integrating AI, and investing in high development costs. The PCA identifies four components explaining 72% of total variance. The findings shift focus from adoption barriers toward actionable, empirically grounded strategies applicable to construction practice and policy. Sustainability-Driven