Owners Dennis and Christy Cuku set extremely high green goals for their new office space in Edmonton, Alberta. Their aspirations included LEED Platinum, and being certified net-zero energy by the International Living Future Institute, and their integrated team will likely deliver what’s needed for those ambitious green certifications.

But these achievements weren’t always such a sure thing. Halfway through design, C$2 million already spent, and six months used primarily to “build the project culture” for their new office space, the two also decided to try a full Integrated Project Delivery contract. It was a risk to spend more money negotiating a new contract instead of proceeding with design but Howard Ashcraft, who managed negotiations of their contract, assured them “IPD retrofits” are actually quite common and often reach the same level of success as projects that use IPD from the outset.

It turned out that at that stage it was not too late for the project to benefit from the input that the contractor and consultants could provide. Adopting the contract forced the team to take a good look at how construction would actually proceed, and seeing that the design would probably run over budget, the design team “started taking out unnecessary nooks and crannies that the architect had originally specified,” says Dennis Cuku.

The contract negotiations were also beneficial in supplementing team development and the goal setting that had already begun. The team had developed a vision of success, a list of project objectives, and a decision checklist, but the values matrix facilitated by Ashcraft “really empowered them to make decisions by weighing the outcomes against the six core values,” says Cuku. “Once it was birthed, I didn’t have to touch it anymore. That is the real value of the IPD process from an owner’s perspective. You don’t want to have to be onsite everyday, dealing with personality and design issues.”

The team has been so effective and self-sufficient that the project is expected to come in five percent below budget and five months ahead of schedule, proving that integrated design and delivery is particularly effective at delivering green buildings within budget. But there are still things Cuku learned through the process. He wishes that he had included a few more people in the core IPD team, including some early key trades because there were some individuals who weren’t totally aligned with the direction of the project and as a result were “difficult for the rest of the IPD team to accept into the project culture.” To that point Cuku suggests, “I think there needs to be a personality checklist for choosing partners. This process is not for everybody. You have to be willing to collaborate and be part of a team.”