The growing use of progressive design-build (PDB) across Canada’s construction industry has prompted the Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC) to introduce a new set of standard contracts, attracting strong interest from project owners, contractors, consultants and legal professionals nationwide.
To support the rollout, the CCDC organized a cross-country roadshow this spring, hosting 24 seminars across Canada. The sessions attracted more than 900 participants, a testament to the industry’s growing embrace of the collaborative project delivery model.
The new documents, issued in May 2026, are CCDC 32-2026 Progressive Design-Build Contract CCDC 33-2026 Progressive Design-Build Service Contract Between Design-Builder and Consultant CCDC 32G-2026 Guide to the Progressive Design-Build Contract.
The committee also published the updated CCDC 14-2026 Design-Build Stipulated Price Contract and CCDC 15-2026 Service Contract Between Design-Builder and Consultant, refreshing its long-standing traditional design-build contracts.
The extent of participation in the roadshow is indicative of how quickly progressive design-build has taken root across the Canadian construction industry, said Geza Banfai, counsel at McMillan LLP and the CCDC’s immediate past ex-officio legal counsel.
He noted that owners are increasingly choosing the delivery model because it encourages greater collaboration with the design-build team while helping manage project risks more effectively. Due to continued demand, the CCDC is already considering adding more educational sessions later this year.
Unlike traditional design-build contracts, progressive design-build follows a two-stage process consisting of a project development phase followed by a design and construction phase.
One of the key features of the new CCDC 32 contract is the introduction of a Final Project Proposal, which brings together important project elements such as the owner’s requirements, final design, construction schedule, pricing and other commercial terms before construction officially proceeds.
Rather than committing to the full project at the beginning, both the owner and the design-builder work together during the development phase to refine the project. They only decide to go ahead with construction when they reach the last project gate.”
The contract has an “off-ramp,” allowing either party to walk away from the relationship before the construction phase if the parties can’t reach an agreement at any point in the development process.
Banfai explained that this flexibility is what fundamentally distinguishes progressive design-build from the traditional model.
Under a conventional design-build contract, owners and contractors commit to a fixed-price agreement from the outset. With progressive design-build, however, that commitment is delayed until both parties have developed the project together and have greater confidence that the scope, schedule and budget are realistic.
This approach reduces uncertainty for owners while allowing design-build teams to prepare proposals that are more accurate and better aligned with project expectations.
The companion CCDC 33-2026 contract governs the relationship between the design-builder and its consultant throughout both phases of the project. It outlines the consultant’s professional responsibilities and establishes how services will be compensated during project development and construction.
Meanwhile, the revisions made to the existing CCDC 14 and CCDC 15 design-build contracts are more modest. According to Banfai, the updates mainly modernize the documents by introducing a clearer definition of design instruments of service, addressing design work completed by an owner’s consultants and providing greater clarity regarding ownership of design documents and the owner’s rights to use them.
With progressive design-build continuing to gain traction across Canada, the new CCDC contracts are expected to provide owners and project teams with a more flexible framework for delivering increasingly complex construction projects while encouraging collaboration from the earliest stages of development.
