The state of North Carolina’s first major municipal design-build project, the McAlpine Creek Water Wastewater Management Facility, is Charlotte Water’s largest, with a treatment capacity of 64 million gallons per day (MGD). The $25.5-million project’s aim was to expand effluent filter capacity.

Several factors led to the project owner’s decision to use an alternative procurement approach, including the significant amount of existing infrastructure on site as well as unknown subsurface conditions. The design-build methodology also minimized cost and schedule risks and improved team analysis of both material choices and means and methods. Scope of the work included the construction of new filter bays, 40-ft-deep excavations with engineered slopes; installation of new filters and rehab of existing filters; new control systems; cast-in-place concrete basins; and installation of 48-in. and 60-in. ductile iron pipes.