ABSTRACT
Project Alliance is a collaborative procurement approach developed and customised for the purposes of a single project and is recommended for projects where the actual works are challenging, the risks uncertain and the environments complex. If anything, tunnelling projects are known for carrying an inherent uncertainty most notably (but not exclusively) pertaining to ground conditions. Having said that, tunnelling projects are also infamous for cost overruns, significant delays and often suffer from numerous disputes that unavoidably result in damaged relationships between the contracting parties. This paper refers to the challenges that led up to the development of Project Alliance as procurement model, presents the structure, mechanisms and key features of a Project Alliance and critically discusses the suitability of Project Alliances for tunnelling projects.
