Alliancing aims to replace risk transfer with shared risk, early involvement, and best-for-project decisions. It is one of a family of collaborative delivery models, alongside Progressive Design-Build, Construction Manager/General Contractor, and Integrated Project Delivery, that share the same goal. While the label varies by market, the principles remain the same. Collaborative delivery aspires to an integrated approach between owner and private participants in the delivery of critical infrastructure, to achieve better value-for-money and project outcomes. 

A shift is well underway around the world. Owners are increasingly turning to collaborative delivery models such as Progressive Design-Build to achieve earlier collaboration and greater cost certainty for complex transportation and water projects.

Alliances are ideal for complex, accelerated, or politically significant projects, especially those where the end solution is not fully defined at the start. They enable designers to collaborate closely with the owner, constructors, and operators to develop the best overall solution. 

Alliancing relies on some basic principles to be successful including: 

  • An integrated team selected based on best person for each position
  • Success and failure are a joint responsibility
  • Equal leadership with equal say
  • Share risk collectively 
  • Build relationships and culture on honesty, transparency, communication, trust, collaboration, innovation and performance.

For complex major infrastructure programmes, alliancing can act as a decision speed multiplier—helping teams respond faster and deliver with greater certainty. Drawing on shared experience of alliancing from around the world, at Arup, our approach centres around establishing shared purpose, clear governance, and owner‑level accountability to complex projects to help accelerate decisions and reduce risk. 

Our experience points to five factors that set successful alliances apart from the start. 

  1. Involve key people early and often

Get key people involved early and throughout the process. Visible, collaborative leadership from the alliance management and leadership teams sets the tone for the rest of the alliance participants.   

Everyone in the alliance also needs to own the objectives and be accountable for how they will achieve these outcomes. For this to happen, all participants need a seat at the table throughout the lifetime of the project. 

  1. Invest the time and resources to succeed

Investing time to understand the complexities of the alliance model, the specifics of the participants involved, and to get the contractual framework correct is vital. It might seem like a burden at the outset, but it reduces the risk of disagreements down the line and builds trust and solid relationships, which in turn leads to much more collaborative working and better results.

  1. Foster a culture of collaboration

The aim with an alliance is to blend disparate cultures of parent organisations into a single alliance culture. Culture change can take time, particularly when traditional models are so ingrained in the industry.   

It requires the right mix of people and skills. Coaching and training are also important. Individual participants may not have the experience of alliances and the behaviours you need in an alliance are very different from in typical design and construct arrangements. Celebrating successes and (constructively) calling out behaviours or decisions when they are not right is a good way to foster the culture you want. The example set from the leadership is a critical factor. 

Digital tools increasingly underpin genuine collaboration giving alliance partners a shared, single source of truth. A common data environment lets each participant's data remain traceable to its source while the alliance works from one aligned view. On Australia’s Level Crossing Removal Western Program Alliance we used advanced parametric and BIM tools for design collaboration and stakeholder engagement, and on Transpennine Route Upgrade we developed a Rail Signalling Visualisation Tool that helped partners refine costly decisions far earlier in design.

  1. Get the incentives right

First and foremost, the risk and reward regime must incentivise good behaviour and discourage bad behaviour.   

The alliance becomes meaningful, and starts to act as one, when participants’ rewards are based on shared outcomes. For example, if the actual outturn cost (AOC) is higher than the target outturn cost (TOC), there should be a mechanism to share the pain. However, if the AOC comes under the TOC, efficiency should be rewarded. This minimises the risk of unintended consequences.   

Likewise, exceptional performance, whether against business-as-usual targets or stretch goals such as carbon reduction and sustainability, should be a source of gain for participants rather than seen as lost revenue opportunities. This motivates participants to find better ways to deliver solutions, which can only benefit the project owner and the rest of the alliance in the long run. 

  1. Be clear and flexible

The gainshare and painshare regime must be clear and understood and agreed by all the participants. Uncertainty can lead to misunderstandings and a loss of trust in the process.   

Ensuring clarity does not mean making the agreements and working model rigid. Project participants should have scope to be flexible with their approach to delivering the project, while clients who are happy to adjust KRAs (Key Result Areas) to get the outcome they want, often derive better results.

Case studies: Alliancing in action

Transpennine Route upgrade, United Kingdom  

A multi-billion-pound programme to transform Victorian-era railway in the north of England, the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is being delivered by alliance. Arup is a founding alliance partner and has helped establish best practices and incorporate lessons learned from day one.  

Implementing a collaborative design and early contractor involvement led approach to overcome the complex engineering issues, we are using digital engineering to enhance connectivity.

Project
Transpennine Route Upgrade
Arup staff on the Transpennine route upgrade

Western Program Alliance, Australia   

Arup is part of the Western Program Alliance (WPA), established by Victoria’s Major Transport Infrastructure Authority to deliver the Level Crossing Removal Program. WPA has removed 12 level crossings, delivered multiple integrated station precincts and built three new train stations.  

As a participant in this alliance, we have seen first-hand the benefits of this collaborative model. Working as an integrated team, the alliance is implementing an ‘Adopt > Adapt > Invent’ mindset to build a culture of efficiency, reuse, innovation and creative thinking for problem-solving to help drive efficiency through the value chain. The model has unlocked outcomes that would have been a challenge with a traditional arrangement. This includes increase employment of priority jobseekers, faster approvals, and more sustainable solutions. 

Project
Level Crossing Removal Project Western Program Alliance
Aerial view of new bridge over rail line at Cherry Street

Silicon Valley Clean Water Gravity Pipeline, United States 

The Silicon Valley Clean Water Gravity Pipeline is the centrepiece of a regional sewer system upgrade to a half-century-old wastewater force main serving several cities in Northern California. Arup led the collaborative delivery team that achieved the first tunnel-boring machine project in North America under an alliance-style arrangement. 

The shared risk-reward mindset of the delivery team allowed the project to be delivered under budget and seven weeks ahead of schedule. It also allowed for innovative solutions that a traditional contracting model would have discouraged

Project
Silicon Valley Clean Water Gravity Pipeline
Silicon Valley Clean Water Gravity Pipeline

 

Sharing our experiences 

As infrastructure programmes become larger and more complex, the adoption of alternative and collaborative delivery models can promote earlier collaboration and better alignment across teams. 

Alliances are one approach within the broader shift toward collaborative delivery models. Arup carries extensive global experience from Design-Build and Public-Private-Partnerships to Progressive Design-Build, NEC, Integrated Project Delivery, and Alliances. We have seen how these approaches can help teams manage risk and deliver better value. By sharing our experiences of what makes an alliance successful, we hope to support the growing adoption of this model for the benefit of every participant and project owner. 

Arup’s alternative delivery experience at a glance:

Alliance/Integrated Project Delivery 
•    Suburban Rail Loop Work Package F, Australia 
•    Transpennine Route Upgrade, United Kingdom
•    OmniaBio B, McMaster Biomanufacturing Facility, Canada 

Early Contractor Involvement 
•    HS2 S1/S2 London, United Kingdom
•    Thames Tideway Tunnel, United Kingdom
•    A8 Belfast to Larne, Northern Ireland 

Progressive Design-Build 
•    Silicon Valley Clean Water, United States
•    Bloor-Yonge Capacity Improvement, Canada 
•    Sound Transit OMF South, United States

Public-Private-Partnerships
•    Melbourne Metro Tunnel, Australia
•    Finch West LRT, Canada
•    Sydney Martin Place, Australia 

Design-Build
•    Sydney Metro West, Australia
•    Singapore Rail Test Center
•    Lower Thames Crossing, United Kingdom