Agenda
Pre-Conference Workshops
March 2, 2027
Day 1 – Main Conference
March 3, 2027
Registration
One year into Ontario’s latest Construction Act reforms, owners, contractors and counsel now have real experience with what is working, where administrative challenges remain, and how the changes are affecting payment and dispute strategy.
This session moves beyond the legislative overview to focus on the practical lessons project teams can apply now.
- Applying mandatory annual holdback release to streamline payment flow and reduce exposure across project tiers
- Managing adjudication processes to address disputes quickly and align documentation with ODACC expectations
- Administering invoices and notices under the new prompt payment framework to avoid compliance gaps
- Interpreting procurement start rules to correctly apply transition provisions based on recent court guidance
- Applying Dalren Limited v. Loadstar Trailers Inc. to understand when procurement begins and which Construction Act regime governs a project
Networking Refreshment Break
Choosing the Right Delivery Model: Matching Project Complexity, Market Capacity and Contractor Appetite
Rising costs, constrained market capacity, and increasingly complex builds are forcing owners to rethink how they select procurement and delivery models.
This session will look at how project characteristics, market conditions and contractor appetite should shape model selection before procurement decisions lock in risk
- Assessing project complexity to determine when traditional, collaborative, or integrated delivery models are most effective
- Aligning procurement strategy with market capacity, contractor appetite, and risk tolerance
- Evaluating delivery models against project objectives, schedule pressures, and resource constraints
- Mitigating procurement‑stage risks through clearer scoping, early market sounding, and realistic risk transfer
Understanding the Economics of Collaborative Delivery: Target Price, Margins, Incentives and Risk Sharing
Once a collaborative delivery model has been selected, the harder questions are often commercial: How is the target price developed? What counts as an allowable cost? How are margins, contingencies and incentives structured?
This session will get into the financial mechanics that determine whether collaborative delivery actually aligns behaviour and delivers value.
Building a credible target price through open-book costing, validation and early contractor involvement
- Defining allowable costs, margins, contingencies and compensation so expectations are clear from the outset
- Structuring pain/gain sharing and other incentives to align owner, designer and contractor performance
- Managing cost overruns, savings and scope changes without undermining the collaborative model
- Addressing what happens when parties cannot agree on target price, risk allocation or commercial terms
Networking Lunch
Collaborative delivery can have the right contract and commercial structure and still fail if the team dynamics are wrong.
This session will examine how owners, contractors and project leaders build teams that can work through disagreement, maintain trust under pressure and resolve small issues before they become project problems.
- Building trust foundations by shaping norms for candor, reliability, and shared accountability
- Strengthening listening behaviours to improve problem‑solving and reduce friction across disciplines
- Navigating personality fit and managing difficult personalities without derailing collaboration
- Resolving micro‑disputes early through structured tools, facilitation practices, and behaviour‑based processes
Take the conversation into the room and compare what actually helps collaborative teams succeed when commercial pressure, deadlines and personality conflicts start to test the model.
Questions for discussion:
- Where does trust break down first on collaborative projects, and how can teams address it before it impacts outcomes?
- What is the biggest warning sign that a collaborative project is heading toward conflict?
- When personalities clash and pressure rises, what leadership behaviours keep teams aligned and decisions moving?
Networking Refreshment Break
Networking Break
Take the conversation into the room and explore how construction owners, contractors, consultants, and legal teams are navigating the growing use of AI in project delivery and dispute management.
Questions for discussion:
- Will AI reduce construction disputes, or simply create new types of claims?
- What project decisions should never be delegated to AI?
- Would you trust AI-generated project data as evidence in a dispute? Why or why not?
- Are contracts keeping pace with AI adoption, or are new project risks emerging faster than they can be addressed?
- What will be the biggest legal challenge created by AI in construction over the next five years?
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Shifting Markets, Shifting Talent — How Workforce Migration Is Reshaping Project Risk
Residential slowdowns are pushing contractors into commercial and infrastructure work just as defense and power‑generation spending accelerates.
These shifts are reshaping competition, project staffing, and the strategies leaders use to keep strong people engaged.
This session will discuss:
- How contractor migration is reshaping competition, pricing strategies, and procurement
- The impact of workforce movement and talent shortages on project delivery, productivity, and risk exposure
- Effective retention, recruitment, and workforce planning strategies in an increasingly competitive labor market
- How mentorship, succession planning, and skills development can strengthen long-term project capability and organizational resilience
Co-Chair’s Closing Remarks and End of Day One
Day 2 – Main Conference
March 4, 2027
Registration
Addressing Insurance and Liability Gaps: Allocating Coverage Under Alliance, IPD and Progressive Delivery Models
Collaborative delivery models—Alliance, IPD, CMAR and Progressive Design‑Build are reshaping how owners, contractors, architects and engineers share responsibility. As teams move toward no‑fault structures and collective accountability, new questions are emerging around professional liability, insurance gaps, privilege, and how bonds compare to subcontractor default insurance.
This session focuses on the practical risk‑allocation issues that arise when collaboration meets real‑world claims.
- Clarifying no‑fault structures to understand how responsibility is shared across owners, designers and contractors
- Allocating professional liability when design input, decision‑making and risk are distributed across integrated teams
- Comparing bonds and Subguard to determine how each responds to contractor default and performance risk
- Managing privilege and confidentiality when project information, AI‑generated data and shared platforms intersect with claims and investigations
Networking Break
Building Stronger Construction Claims: Project Controls for Delay, Productivity Loss and Change Orders
Effective claims management starts long before a dispute is filed. This session will examine how stronger project controls, timely notices and contemporaneous documentation can help teams preserve entitlement, quantify impact and resolve issues while the project is still moving.
- Meeting notice requirements to preserve entitlement and avoid waiver of contractual rights
- Building contemporaneous records that clearly support delay, disruption and productivity-loss claims
- Analyzing schedule impacts using critical-path methods, updates and reliable project data
- Quantifying productivity loss and change impacts in a way that can withstand scrutiny
- Pricing and approving changes while work continues to protect cash flow and reduce downstream disputes
- Connecting project controls, field documentation and legal strategy so the record supports the claim from day one
CASE STUDY
Lessons from Large-Scale & Mega Projects: What Transit, Healthcare and Public Infrastructure Can Teach Us About Delivery
Large-scale infrastructure projects put procurement strategy, risk allocation, project controls and team coordination under extraordinary pressure.
This session will use real project experience to examine what has worked, what has gone wrong, and what teams can apply to future complex builds.
- Showcasing mega‑project case studies to illustrate real‑world delivery challenges and successes
- Analyzing delivery‑model selection including AFP/P3, Progressive Design‑Build, CMAR, and Alliance approaches used on complex builds
- Managing market capacity amid contractor appetite shifts, supply‑chain pressure, and rising technical complexity
- Driving schedule and cost certainty through risk allocation, commercial structuring, and disciplined project controls
As projects become increasingly complex, commissioning plays a vital role in reducing performance, operational, and contractual risks.
- This session will explore how a proactive commissioning strategy can improve project certainty from design through handover.
- What type of commissioning approach is best suited to your project objectives, risk profile, and asset lifecycle goals?
- How can commissioning activities be integrated throughout design, construction, and startup to prevent costly deficiencies and delays?
- What lessons can project teams learn from real-world commissioning successes and failures to improve future project outcomes?
Networking Lunch
Strengthening Ontario‑Made Procurement: Navigating the Buy Ontario Act Directives for Construction and Infrastructure Projects
Ontario’s Buy Ontario Act (Bill 72) marks a major shift in public‑sector procurement. Public entities, including ministries, agencies, municipalities, hospitals, school boards, universities, and provincial infrastructure bodies will now be required to prioritize Ontario‑made and Canadian‑made goods and services when procuring capital infrastructure projects.
For construction and infrastructure firms, this means new compliance obligations, new competitive dynamics, and new risks tied to documentation, supply‑chain verification, and contractual enforcement.
This session gives project owners, contractors, designers, and suppliers a practical understanding of how the Act’s directives will reshape procurement strategies, bidding, supply‑chain management, and contract administration for Ontario’s infrastructure pipeline.
- Highlighting Ontario‑made content to strengthen bid scoring and align with public‑sector expectations
- Demonstrating compliant supply chains through simple, audit‑ready origin documentation
- Aligning procurement strategy with Ontario manufacturers and Canadian service providers
- Reducing contract and funding risk by ensuring subcontractor and supplier compliance
Implementing the Updated CCDC Documents: Practical Implications, Market Reaction and Early Lessons Learned
With multiple new and revised CCDC documents released over the past year, owners, contractors, and consultants are navigating a wave of changes affecting procurement, contracting, negotiation, and project administration.
This session focuses on the practical implications of adopting the updated forms—what’s changed, how the market is responding, and what early users are learning as these documents move from theory into real‑world projects.
- Understanding key changes across recently revised CCDC contracts and how they affect roles, responsibilities, and risk allocation
- Applying lessons from early adoption including what has worked, where confusion persists, and how teams are adjusting processes
- Navigating current negotiation trends as parties respond to new clauses, insurance requirements, procurement language, and shifting market expectations
- Managing practical impacts for owners, contractors, and consultants—from procurement templates and schedules to documentation, administration, and dispute avoidance