CCPPP Releases Case Study on Alberta School Bundling P3
Project won gold for project development in CCPPP’s 2022 National Awards for Innovation & Excellence in P3s
TORONTO (February 2, 2024) — Canada’s latest school bundling project, located in Alberta, is the focus of a case study released today by The Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP).
Alberta’s P3 Schools Bundle #2, also known as P3SB2, is a $300.3-million project to provide five new high schools in Edmonton, Blackfalds, Langdon and Leduc using a single bundled public-private partnership (P3) agreement.
This is a transformative project, delivering the first high schools ever located in some communities and significantly reducing travel time for students between municipalities. Once they reach substantial completion in May 2024, the state-of-the-art schools will serve almost 7,000 students.
The case study, Bundled but Unique: Delivering Alberta’s State-of-the-Art High Schools, explores the merits of using the bundled design-build-finance-maintain (DBFM) P3 approach, notably in the economies of scale and the sophistication of the coordinated delivery, which offer benefits to the specialized nature of each school being delivered.
It also showcases how bundled delivery P3s are evolving in Canada. In the past, bundled projects were generally developed to deliver more standardized type facilities. That is not the case with P3SB2, which is delivering schools that were independently designed in direct consultation with their associated school jurisdiction to meet the specific needs and educational programs of their communities. This includes different functional planning, selection of different building systems, finishings and architectural expression.
In the current economic climate, this study serves as a clear demonstration for provincial and territorial governments, showcasing how the model, when used appropriately, can maximize public funds. It emphasizes the model's ability to stretch resources, ensuring critical public infrastructure can keep pace with the demands of a rapidly growing population.
The project, which won gold for project development at CCPPP's 2022 National Awards for Innovation & Excellence in P3s, is a partnership between the Government of Alberta and Concert-Bird Partners.
Since the establishment of the national awards program in 1998, CCPPP has published more than 80 case studies on award-winning P3 projects, which are available for free on the Council website.
Additional case studies on the Gatineau 2, Library and Archives Canada project and the Accelerated High Speed Internet Program, Ontario will be released by the Council by the end of March.
CCPPP would like to thank the project partners and procurement agencies for their contributions to the case studies, as well as Infrastructure Canada for its research support.
A special note of thanks to the dedicated Awards Committee that reviewed the 2022 award applications, selected the winners and provided feedback on the case studies.
