*This article was originally published in the March/April 2022 edition of ReNew Canada.

Collaborative contracting is still in its infancy in Canada, but it is quickly gaining a foothold as municipalities and government agencies look to find better ways to deliver projects with the best overall value for their stakeholders.

And while these models may be new on Canadian soil, they have been used for years in other jurisdictions. Alliance contracting, for example, has been used in the Australia and United Kingdom (UK) markets for approximately 20 years, helping to successfully deliver large-scale infrastructure projects in the transit, buildings, transportation, and water-wastewater sectors.

Using International Expertise to Provide Local Solutions

WSPs experience in Alliance contracting in these markets is helping the company deliver solutions for those project owners looking to use this form of collaborative contracting in Canada. 

As announced in March 2022, our company is playing an integral role in the delivery of Canada’s largest Alliance contract to date: the Union Station Enhancement Project (USEP). Helping to deliver the project is one of our experts from Australia, Kate Borg, who is acting as the Alliance Design Manager for the ONTrack Alliance, the proponent executing the estimated $562 million contract for USEP.

For the March/April 2022 edition of ReNew Canada, Kate explained the fundamentals of Alliance contracting, and how the expertise of how it was done in countries like Australia can help Canada do it right.