Papers and Reports

To the RESCU: Lessons from Using Progressive Design-Build to Deliver Agency’s Largest Program

Written by Sample User | Dec 22, 2025 11:18:09 PM

Silicon Valley Clean Water (SVCW), a water resource recovery agency in California, is nearly complete with its major infrastructure and conveyance upgrade program that used collaborative project delivery (CPD), specifically the progressive design-build (PDB) model, for three interrelated projects valued at $569MM USD. The Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade (RESCU) program was implemented to replace SVCW’s aging conveyance system and improve preliminary treatment facilities. Since 2016 when the program was initiated, SVCW has been an early adopter of CPD and was determined to leverage PDB to develop cohesive teams and effective collaboration for successful RESCU program delivery. Throughout the process, SVCW has been focused on learning, and sharing lessons learned, to improve CPD for the wastewater industry. In this paper/presentation, we continue sharing lessons about CPD for water/wastewater infrastructure projects throughout design, construction, startup and commissioning, to better educate others who are considering implementing CPD for similar projects and programs.