Lauri Merikallio of Vison has written the chapter on Finland’s alliancing development for Howard W. Ashcraft’s new book, Contracting for Integrated Project Delivery: Structuring Collaborative Projects for Global Success. Ashcraft is one of the world’s leading experts on Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), and the book brings together lessons from more than 150 IPD projects along with a practical framework for developing, negotiating, and executing IPD agreements.
A Finnish Perspective in a Global Conversation
Finland has been systematically developing its alliancing model for nearly two decades, with more than a hundred alliance projects delivered in the public sector. For Lauri, the starting point traces back to California:
“When I was a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley in 2007, I immediately saw in the IPD model solutions to the problems the Finnish construction industry faced at the time: disputes, unnecessary costs at the interfaces between parties, and a deep lack of trust between actors. It was a question of changing the culture, and in Finland, we’re making good progress on that front.”
There’s still further to go, Lauri notes.
“I still see a lot of potential in integrating the whole supply chain more effectively, and in using teams selected through a single competitive process to deliver entire investment and renovation programs, rather than individual projects.”
A Guide to Structuring Collaborative Projects for Global Success
The book offers practical tools for structuring multiparty contracts, conducting negotiations, and managing shared risk and incentive alignment. It also includes international perspectives, with guest chapters — alongside Lauri’s — from Australia, New Zealand, and the DACH region, addressing how IPD and alliancing are applied in different countries.
According to Howard, the book starts from the idea that the real foundation of collaboration isn’t the contract document itself, but the process through which a team builds a shared understanding of a project’s goals and how to achieve them.
The book is designed for owners, designers, builders, consultants, lenders, insurers, and legal advisors — anyone engaged in IPD projects or considering adopting the model.
