November Breakfast Session - Target Cost: Getting to Yes

Collaborative delivery models such as Progressive Design-Build, Alliance, and other target cost approaches are intended to align owners, designers, and contractors around shared project outcomes. Yet even with the best intentions, some projects build trust while others become mired in conflict, cost escalation, or difficult commercial negotiations.

This session will explore what it takes to successfully establish and manage a target cost, align stakeholders, allocate and manage risk, and create the conditions for collaborative decision-making throughout project delivery. Drawing on lessons from major projects the panel will discuss why some collaborative projects succeed, why others struggle, and how owners and industry partners can better achieve a true "getting to yes" outcome.

Panelists

Neil Lynchehaun is Vice President and Large Project Executive with FlatironDragados, bringing more than 32 years of experience delivering major civil infrastructure projects in Canada and the United Kingdom. He has led projects across their full lifecycle using collaborative and alternative delivery models. His experience includes Calgary’s Green Line LRT, Kicking Horse Canyon Phase 4, Stoney Trail and the Golden Ears Bridge. Neil currently serves as Project Sponsor for the TerraMarine team on VFPA’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project. A UK Chartered Engineer, he holds an Honours degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Liverpool.

Kelly McNutt is the founder of Kelly McNutt Consulting, LLC (KMC), established in 2020 and specializing in cost estimating, constructability, scheduling, risk management, and claims analysis. She brings extensive heavy civil, marine, and transit experience across North America and a range of delivery methods, including CM/GC and Design-Build. Previously serving as District Engineer/Chief Estimator at Kiewit, Kelly managed annual estimates of up to $6 billion and supported major infrastructure projects such as the George Massey Tunnel and LAX Automated People Mover. Her strengths include technical cost analysis, strategic decision-making, team collaboration, and stakeholder management.

Gary Webster brings more than 45 years of experience delivering major, complex capital programs in Canada and internationally. He specializes in procurement, collaborative project delivery and implementation for public- and private-sector organizations. In BC, he has supported major infrastructure programs including the Sea to Sky Highway and Port Mann/Highway 1. He has also applied lessons from major projects to target-price contracts for Manitoba Hydro, New Brunswick Power and the Vancouver Port Authority.

Moderator

Tony Purdon is a long-time Mott MacDonald employee with extensive experience delivering transportation infrastructure across Western Canada, the U.S. and South America. His work spans highways, bridges, marine terminals and rail transit. Career highlights include the Millennium Line, Sea-to-Sky Highway and Port Mann/Highway 1 projects. More recently, he has focused on progressive design-build projects and currently supports VFPA’s RBT2 Landmass and Wharf project. He is a UBC civil engineering graduate.

Thank you, EBC and Kiewit for sponsoring.