Across North America, infrastructure owners are taking on ambitious projects that are designed to do more than build infrastructure. They’re reshaping places. Strengthening communities. And creating lasting economic and social value.
The investment required is massive. Globally, an estimated US$151.1 trillion is needed by 2050 to build and maintain aging infrastructure. That’s according to PwC-Oxford Economics’ Global Infrastructure Outlook 2025–50.
But the projects with the greatest potential often face the toughest trade-offs. Cost pressures, scope constraints, and competing priorities can put long-term vision at risk. The challenge for owners is clear: How do you deliver on an ambitious vision without losing cost certainty or compromising the project’s vision?
Progressive design-build (PDB) offers a different way forward. It brings owners, designers, and constructors together early in the project. By doing so, PDB creates greater transparency, strengthens alignment, and enables more proactive risk management. What it doesn’t do: Eliminate tough decisions. But it fosters an environment to make better ones.
And its value goes beyond early contractor involvement or greater cost certainty. With the right experience and voices at the table, PDB can help owners make more informed trade-offs while keeping the bigger picture in focus.
In this Q&A, I speak with my colleagues Susan Walter, Wendy Harper, and Amy Seek. They all bring first-hand experience delivering complex, large-scale infrastructure projects. Together, we explore how owners can balance cost, schedule, and risk without losing sight of the vision—or the communities these projects are meant to serve.
" }On the KY 8 Licking River Bridge Replacement, risk and innovation workshops created space for real-time collaboration. When costs came into question, open communication and trust helped protect the vision for a signature bridge connecting two growing communities.
Greg: Large-scale infrastructure projects are highly complex, with significant uncertainty. That puts greater pressure on owners to manage risks as they develop while still delivering their project goals. How is that changing the way they think about project delivery?
Susan: The traditional design-bid-build model doesn't always deliver the outcomes owners need. This is particularly true as infrastructure projects become larger and more complex. In project management, we often talk about the “magic triangle” of scope, schedule, and budget. When all three are aligned, projects are positioned for success. But today, owners struggle to manage costs and schedules without compromising their objectives.
Owners generally understand the problem they’re trying to solve. The challenge is finding the right way to deliver the solution when costs and schedules can quickly become difficult to control. That’s one reason we’re seeing a shift toward delivery methods that bring designers and contractors together earlier. PDB is gaining traction because it creates more ways to collaborate from the outset.
Wendy: We’re also seeing longer material lead times, workforce shortages, and extended permitting timelines. These pressures add uncertainty at every stage of a project. They can make it harder to deliver the original vision.
This is where PDB makes a difference. With contractors involved earlier, it helps teams to:
- Anticipate potential challenges
- Understand their implications
- Make design decisions that address them before they become bigger problems
Greg: Owners often want cost certainty, but as the design develops and the project vision comes into focus, rising costs can put that vision under pressure. How does PDB give owners better cost information without sacrificing the project vision?
Wendy: PDB brings greater transparency to the decisions that shape a project. Cost certainty matters, but so does cost transparency. Owners need to understand not just what a project will cost but how individual decisions affect the overall investment and the vision they’re trying to deliver.
Because the contractor is involved from the start, owners can see the cost impacts of design choices as they evolve. That creates an ongoing connection between vision, design, and cost. And that helps teams make informed trade-offs and direct investment toward the elements that matter most.
Susan: It comes down to collaboration. PDB allows owners, designers, and contractors to evaluate costs together as the design advances. Instead of uncovering budget challenges late in the process, teams can identify and address them in real time.
That creates more opportunities to manage costs and schedules while protecting the project’s most important objectives.
Amy: PDB gives teams more options to address cost pressures without immediately reducing scope or compromising the vision.
For example, if a feature is important to the project but exceeds the cost target, the team can explore alternatives while the design is still evolving. Contractors can price those options in real time, helping everyone know the implications before deciding.
That’s fundamentally different from traditional value engineering at the end of design, when choices can become limited to keeping or cutting features. With PDB, the conversation shifts from, “what can we remove?” to “what are we really trying to achieve, and how can we achieve it cost-effectively?”
Greg: A community’s priorities can be clear at the start of a project, but project pressures can pull the focus elsewhere. How can PDB help keep community priorities connected to the project as it develops?
Amy: One of the most exciting aspects of PDB is its potential to make community engagement more meaningful and actionable.
When we bring construction and cost perspectives into the process early, teams can have more realistic conversations with communities. We can talk about what’s possible and where trade-offs may be needed. Rather than asking communities to react to ideas that could later change during pricing or construction, teams can present alternatives that are both meaningful and achievable.
" }In Louisville, Kentucky, the PDB team for the Morris Forman Water Quality Treatment Center is involved with the Metropolitan Sewer District of Louisville’s community engagement program. To support local organizations, our team and Walsh have worked on several projects, including Habitat for Humanity builds, ACE mentorship
Susan: PDB helps keep community priorities connected to design, cost, and implementation decisions as a project develops. Because those conversations happen throughout design development and construction planning, community priorities are more likely to remain visible and influence the outcome. They don’t simply shape the initial vision.
Wendy: When we use PDB, it helps create greater flexibility. When teams evaluate design, cost, construction, and phasing together, they can identify investments that deliver many benefits at once. That might include creating public space, improving access, supporting habitats, or making neighborhood connections stronger.
That’s where PDB can be especially powerful. It gives teams more opportunities to build community value into the project itself and adapt as conditions evolve, rather than being locked into decisions made years earlier.
Greg: When the cost estimate puts a project element at risk, the challenge is deciding what can change without losing what that element was meant to accomplish. How do you reduce costs without limiting the value that the project can ultimately deliver?
Susan: It’s easy to focus on just delivering the technical solution—a bridge, roadway, or utility improvement. But infrastructure can contribute much more than its core function. PDB creates opportunities to consider those broader benefits throughout project development, rather than treating them as extras that can be removed when budgets tighten.
Amy: The features that shape how people experience a place are often the first to be viewed as optional because their value can be difficult to quantify. Yet they’re frequently among the elements that deliver the greatest community benefit.
PDB gives teams more ways to work through cost challenges creatively. Then, we can find alternatives that preserve the intent and value of those features rather than simply cutting them.
" }In Brantford, Ontario, our team is helping deliver a C$152 million Sports and Entertainment Centre using progressive design-build. The approach gives the team more opportunities to solve cost challenges while protecting the quality and experience the venue is designed to deliver.
Greg: PDB depends on collaboration, but contract structure alone does not create trust. What must owners and delivery teams do differently to make the model work?
Wendy: The most successful PDB projects see owners, designers, and contractors operating as one team. That means moving beyond organizational boundaries. The result is building a shared understanding of the project’s vision, priorities, risks, and opportunities.
In this scenario, everyone is working toward the same outcomes. That makes conversations about cost, schedule, constructability, and community value more transparent. Challenges become shared problems to solve, not issues passed from one part of the team to another.
That trust and shared accountability make it easier to navigate trade-offs. It also helps the team respond to changing conditions and make better decisions without losing sight of what the project is meant to achieve.
Susan: That said, PDB isn’t the right fit for every project. Collaboration brings real value, but it also requires time, commitment, and active participation from everyone involved.
If a project has limited uncertainty around construction, coordination, or phasing, there may not be enough complexity or risk to justify the extra collaboration PDB requires. Owners need to consider whether the potential benefits outweigh that upfront investment.
Greg: The right delivery model depends on the challenges an owner needs the project team to solve. What conditions make a project a strong fit for PDB, and what should owners consider before choosing it?
Susan: Start by looking at the project’s complexity and uncertainty. PDB can offer significant advantages when:
- Risks are significant
- The schedule is demanding
- The solution requires extensive coordination with stakeholders
Owners should consider whether greater collaboration and upfront investment is worth it. Can it reduce uncertainty and improve outcomes over the life of the project?
The goal isn’t simply to secure the lowest initial price. It’s to build a shared understanding of risks, opportunities, costs, and objectives so the entire team can make better-informed decisions throughout delivery.
" }Harnessing the value of PDB starts with the team
The shift toward progressive design-build is only the beginning. PDB gives owners greater visibility and control as they balance budget, schedule, risk, and project vision. But the delivery model itself is only part of the equation.
The greatest value of PDB comes from what teams do with the collaboration it creates. Strong PDB teams build a culture of trust, transparency, and shared accountability. That culture underpins the PDB framework, creating a team-first mindset that sustains collaboration when difficult trade-offs arise. Teams can share information openly, work through risk together, and take ownership of decisions.
Now more than ever, choosing the right delivery partners matters as much as choosing the delivery model. Owners need partners who can cultivate the leadership and culture needed to navigate difficult decisions while protecting the project’s larger purpose. The result? A delivery approach that can solve complex infrastructure challenges while preserving the value those investments are meant to deliver to communities.
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