Innovation governance in practice: architectural agency and socio-technical risk at King George Tower, Sydney – a learning history

Purpose This article examines how architectural agency and socio-technical risk shift across the life cycle of a building innovation, using the plastic sun-shading screen of King George Tower (KGT), Sydney (designed/built 1967–1976; removed 1998), as a mechanism-rich case-story. Design/methodology/approach The study constructs a historical case-story from construction archives, specifications, correspondence, technical datasheets, test reports and post-occupancy files, assembling these materials into a project chronology. Mechanism tracing is then used to follow decision chains across actors and document genres as the innovation moved from design and implementation into early operation and dispute. Findings Architectural agency becomes especially legible when innovations are justified and authorised through evidentiary scaffolding, and when those same devices later redistribute responsibility and exposure as performance becomes consequential. As procurement, system-level testing, substitution and in-use deterioration unfold, agency becomes increasingly conditional and shifts across suppliers, contractors, clients and technical and legal advisers. Socio-technical risk intensifies as uncertainty is translated into contractual and procedural instruments – tests, classifications, warranties, exclusions and settlements – moving exposure from shared professional judgement towards client–supplier negotiation and time-bounded guarantees. Originality/value The article offers an evidence-based account of innovation governance in practice, showing how evidentiary infrastructures reshape professional leverage and redistribute liability over time. It demonstrates the value of archival learning histories as a complement to abstract management models, particularly where contemporary projects are difficult to analyse due to confidentiality, fragmented documentation and dispute.