There is an emerging international interest in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry towards designing and constructing building projects based on Target Cost (TC) through the development of 'Target Costing' and Target Value Design (TVD) 4. The aim is to create more value for the client and the users through iterative design processes focusing on optimization of value within cost limitation. The purpose of this study is to discover and bring awareness of the maturity of TVD implementation during the pre-project phase in Norwegian public building projects. Findings in the research are a result of a literature study and five case studies which included a document study and semi-structured interviews with the involved project managers (PMs) from both the client and the contractor. The case studies provide the current maturity of TVD implementation during the pre-project in a number of Norwegian public building projects and shows that the TVD characteristics are only partially implemented. TVD maturity varies across the categories: contracting, organizing, defining (business case and validation) and steering. Furthermore, enhancing maximum project value is a challenge due to the lack of visualization and the focus towards cost reduction.