The City of Calgary is adopting a Design-Build method to design and construct the West LRT Project. This method was chosen because it can accommodate the project's aggressive schedule compared to other traditional means of project construction such as Design-Bid-Build or Construction Management. It also provides a better cost-certainty for the project budget. The following information is intended to assist you in understanding the meaning of Design-Build and its implications to the project's success. 

What is Design-Build?
Put simply, Design-Build is a construction method in which the same company that designs the project is responsible to do the work.

• Wikipedia's Definition of Design-Build - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design-build
• Canadian Design-Build Institute - www.cdbi.org
• Design-Build Institute of America - www.dbia.org/default.htm (On DBIA's home page, click "Learn About Design Build" to watch a video on the Design-Build construction method.)

Design-Build and the West LRT Project
In partnership with The City of Calgary, engineering firm Hatch Mott MacDonald worked as the Owner's Engineer to manage the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, which took place in 2008 and 2009. The City released the RFP in February 2009 and awarded the Design Build Contract in October 2009. It will take three years to construct the West LRT. To put this schedule into perspective, it usually takes two years to extend an existing LRT line to one new station.

The following document is a bulletin released to the construction industry in September 2008. It outlines The City's plan for design and construction in the context of Design-Build and the West LRT Line. It also summarizes the responsibilities of the Design-Build contractor and The City of Calgary in terms of project management. Please click Industry Bulletin #2 for more information.