On the Path to Sustainable Construction: Exploring Economic Profiles in the European Context through One-stop Shop and Turnkey Contract Business Models

This study will analyze two of the most important sustainable business models in the construction sector, namely the One-stop shop and the Turnkey contract. The aim is to identify the elements which characterize each model, as well as their similar economic profiles.Since the early 1990s, the growing environmental awareness and the several directives issued by the European Union have led the different states to promote subsidies, tax rebates and sustainable business models aimed at reducing emissions and promoting sustainability in the construction sector.The One-stop shop model, which was developed following Directive 2018/844/EU, consists of a physical or virtual reference point where owners can access all the necessary information and services in order for their service providers to carry out the renovation projects. The Turnkey contract, on the other hand, is characterized by a contract whereby a single contractor warrants and provides all the premises, structures, tools, materials and operating personnel necessary for the completion and commissioning of the project. The main difference between the two models lies in the objective: while the One-stop shop focuses on improving the efficiency of existing properties, the Turnkey contract is instead intended for the construction of new buildings.The research is carried out in three phases, which entail: i) the collection of European case studies on the improvement of efficiency or new construction of real estate through these business models; ii) an exploratory analysis using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) in order to identify associations between variables in the dataset related to both the applied business model and the improved/constructed real estate; iii) a cluster analysis using the k-modes algorithm in order to define the economic profiles associated with the One-stop shop and Turnkey contract models.The research, therefore, aims to describe in detail two of the most used sustainable business models in the construction sector, as well as to illustrate how their application depends not only on energy-related factors, but also on economic and social factors that are characteristic of each European country.