How It Works
Design‑Build (DB) trenchless delivery combines engineering design and construction into a single contract, allowing the same team to handle both phases. This approach fosters collaboration from project inception through completion, particularly beneficial for trenchless methods that hinge on constructability, subsurface conditions, and method selection as detailed in NUCA’s manual. Such an approach will ensure selection of the most cost-effective and safest installation methods, providing the best possible outcome for the project owners. DB trenchless excels in complex installations, delivering better coordination, lower costs, faster schedules, and superior underground utility deployment.
Benefits
- Enhanced coordination – Contractor and designer work together, improving communications and reducing change orders, surprises and claims.
- Faster delivery – Overlapping design and construction phases can significantly shorten project timelines.
- Cost efficiency – Early contractor input refines constructability and method selection, often lowering overall costs.
- Improved risk management – A single team oversees geotechnical, design, and field execution, aligning responsibility and minimizing delays.
- Better trenchless outcomes – The NUCA manual emphasizes constructability and site-specific method matching—ideal for DB delivery in trenchless projects.
Applications & Technical Details
- Ideal for complex projects: Deep microtunneling, TBM tunneling, multi-crossing installations, and urban utility corridors. Complex projects capitalize on integrated teams and the variety of available trenchless methods.
- Pipe types & methods: Supports a range of carrier systems—steel, HDPE, PVC, concrete, segmental liners—installed via pipe jacking, auger boring, pipe ramming, or microtunneling. Design‑build facilitates tailored method selection based on soil, depth, and pipe type.
- Drive lengths: Enables installations from short (100–300 ft) to long-range runs (500–5,000 ft+), with DB teams optimally planning intermediate pits or staged jacking as needed.
- Key considerations:
- Early collaboration between contractors, design team, and project owners regarding geotechnical information and constructability ensures appropriate trenchless method selection.
- Integrated procurement allows selecting optimal equipment – (for example TBMs, guided systems, pit support, dewatering) – throughout design and build phases.
- DB fosters better value engineering, risk allocation, and scheduling—especially vital for trenchless works under traffic, utilities, or sensitive environments.
