Stoney CNG Bus Storage and Transit Facility
Location: Calgary
Status: In Operation
Value of Partnership: $174 million (construction) and monthly maintenance service payments of $509,000 in nominal dollars over 30-year maintenance period
Type of P3: DBFM
Handback: 2049
Awards: 2019 Silver Award for Infrastructure, National Awards for Innovation & Excellence in P3s
This gigantic facility near the Calgary International Airport can hold 424 standard 12-metre (40-foot) buses with overflow space for 50 more buses. It is the largest indoor compressed natural gas bus fuelling complex in North America and one of the largest in the world. But not only are the buses using greenhouse gas reducing technology, the facility itself marries cutting-edge technology and environmental design features such as a topdown ventilation design that safely and efficiently removes air contaminants.
The 476,000 sq. feet (44,300 m2) facility, which started operations in February 2019, also contains 36 maintenance bays, a bus wash system and a two-storey office administration area with extensive outdoor amenity areas.
The facility’s onsite, indoor CNG fuelling station made it possible for the city to integrate environmentally-friendly CNG buses into the existing Calgary Transit diesel fleet. The fuelling station includes equipment for drying, compression, storage, dispensing and de-fuelling. It is capable of fuelling 338 buses in eight hours. The new facility also means the city can now store its entire diesel bus fleet indoors, eliminating the need to run the engines overnight outside during hard winter days.
During the 30-year operational period, monthly service payments will be made of $509,000 in nominal dollars subject to performance. The payments cover janitorial services, routine facility and landscape maintenance, and rehabilitation of the facility for the duration of the contract. City staff service and maintain the buses.
The 2016 Value-for-Money (VfM) analysis indicated using a public-private partnership (P3) model for the project would result in estimated cost savings of $162.6 million, or 34.7 per cent, when compared to project delivery using a traditional design-bid-build (DBB) procurement method. The fully operational facility is expected to save taxpayers more than $4 million per year on fuel costs when the full fleet of 400 CNG buses is reached.
It is a LEED® Gold facility that is to be maintained at BOMA Best Level 3 standard.
Partners: City of Calgary and Plenary Infrastructure Calgary (Plenary Group Canada Ltd., PCL Investments Canada Inc., PCL Construction Management Inc., AECOM Canada Ltd. And Johnson Controls Canada LP
Other Participants:
Public Sector: Colliers Project Leaders – Bridging/Compliance Team and Sub-consultants (MTA – Architecture; MCW - Mechanical & Electrical; Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. – Structural; Change Energy – CNG; McElhanney – Civil/Landscape; Mission Green - LEED/Commissioning; J.L Richards – Process; P1 Consulting – Facilities Management); Torys – Legal Advisor; Deloitte LLP – Financial Advisor; Knowles Consultancy Services Inc. – Fairness Advisor
Private Sector: Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd. – Developer; PCL Investments Canada Inc. – Developer; Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd.– Financial Advisor; PCL Construction Management Inc. – Construction Contractor; AECOM Canada – Prime Consultant; Johnson Controls Canada LP – Service Provider; Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg (Davies), Gowling WLG – SPV Legal Advisors; Fasken – Funders Legal Advisor; BTY Group – Lenders Technical Advisor, Design Builder Independent Certifier
Jointly Held: Altus Group – Project Agreement Independent Certifier
