Sustainable and economical bridge design through collaboration

For the replacement of 49 bridges, the Flemish government opted for a public-private partnership (PPP) through an innovative form of contract: a framework agreement is entered with 1 private party, a consortium consisting of the contractors Willemen Group, Jan De Nul Group and Artes Group. Under the framework agreement, the contractors work together with the client and work out a design and budget for each of the 49 bridges. After the environmental permit is obtained, a DBFM contract will be signed for each bridge. Under each DBFM contract, the consortium of contractors develops the execution design and is responsible for building, financing and maintaining each bridge for 30 years. This paper focuses on the advantages of this approach on several areas, such as the design process and sustainability.