Balfour Beatty selected bidder for Southwark Schools project

19 November 2008

The project involves the delivery of a major capital investment programme over three phases covering 13 school projects across the Borough.

Transform Schools, Balfour Beatty's education sector PPP concession vehicle, has been appointed by the London Borough of Southwark as selected bidder for the £200 million Southwark Schools for the Future programme. Commenting on the award, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler said: “This is Transform Schools’ third full BSF project following our successes in Knowsley on Merseyside and in Islington. We look forward to utilising our experience in working on eight major PPP education projects in creating first-class new learning environments in Southwark.”

All construction work on the project will be carried out by Balfour Beatty subsidiaries Balfour Beatty Construction and Balfour Kilpatrick, while facilities management will be carried out by Haden Building Management, another Balfour Beatty subsidiary. Transform Schools will also deliver ICT services across all the schools within the programme in conjunction with RM, the leading supplier of ICT solutions to the UK education sector and to the BSF programme.

The project has secured funding under the Department for Children, Schools and Families Low Carbon Schools scheme and will incorporate a number of renewable energy technologies to achieve a reduction in carbon dioxide in use in excess of 60%.

Financial close is scheduled for the second quarter of 2009 with the first new schools opening in September 2010 and 2011. Balfour Beatty will invest £6 million of equity in the programme.

Transform Schools has three further significant BSF bids currently under customer evaluation with several more such bids in early preparation.