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ARTICLE · 08 JULY 2026

Core principles of collaborative delivery models

Gowling WLG
Gowling WLG
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Gowling WLG

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Collaborative construction models like alliance contracting, IPD, and PDB fundamentally challenge traditional project finance structures through shared risk frameworks and transparent governance. These approaches replace adversarial contractor relationships with collective decision-making and open-book accounting, creating inherent tensions with conventional financing requirements. Understanding how these core principles—from "no blame" cultures to best-for-project commitments—interact with proj

CanadaReal Estate and Construction

Financing projects delivered through collaborative delivery models reconciling collaboration with bankability

Despite their structural differences, alliance contracting, IPD, and PDB share core principles that distinguish them from traditional procurement and that stand in deliberate contrast to the project finance requirements set out in Part 4. These principles are the source of the tensions examined in Part 5.

Shared risk and reward

All collaborative models replace the adversarial allocation of risk, in which the contractor bears a fixed-price obligation and the owner transfers as much risk as possible, with a shared-risk framework. Cost overruns, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls are absorbed collectively, with financial consequences distributed among participants through gain-share and pain-share mechanisms.

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