Winnipeg NEWPCC Biosolids Facilities

The City of Winnipeg awarded a CAD $815 million construction contract on July 17, 2026 for new biosolids facilities at the North End Water Pollution Control Centre, closing out a collaborative development phase that let the team price the work before committing to it. Red River Biosolids Partners takes the job: a three-way joint venture of Aecon, MWH Constructors Canada and Oscar Renda Contracting, each holding a third, with Stantec providing design services.

Project Scope

NEWPCC is Winnipeg’s largest and oldest wastewater plant. It treats about 70 percent of the city’s wastewater and handles all of its biosolids, which means every constraint on the site is a constraint on the whole system. This contract covers construction of new biosolids processing facilities plus modifications to existing ones, all while the plant keeps running. Upgraded facilities are expected to begin operating in Q4 2030, with final construction completion in Q2 2031.

The delivery model is the part worth noting. Progressive design-build splits the job into a collaborative development phase and a construction phase, so the owner and the builder advance design together and settle on a price with real scope definition behind it rather than a bid based on a 30 percent drawing set. On a brownfield plant with unknown existing conditions and no option to shut down, that structure moves a large share of the estimating risk out of the bid.

Why It Matters

The overall NEWPCC upgrade program is one of the largest water infrastructure efforts underway in North America, driven by provincial environmental requirements and the need to protect the Red River and Lake Winnipeg watershed from nutrient loading. Lake Winnipeg’s algae problem has been a political issue in Manitoba for two decades, and the plant is the single largest point source the province can act on.

The same Aecon-led team previously delivered the plant’s Headworks Facilities project, so this is a continuation rather than a cold start. That continuity is doing real work on a site where the existing conditions knowledge is worth as much as the crew.

Project Team & Details