Balfour Beatty finalises Derby City BSF

09 December 2010

Balfour Beatty has reached financial close for the £55m Derby City Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

The Derby City BSF Partnership project involves the delivery of a capital investment programme for schools in Derby in partnership with Derby City Council. Construction of a new PPP secondary school, Noel Baker and St Martin’s School, which brings the co-location of a mainstream secondary school with that of a school for pupils with special education needs, will start in January 2011. The extensive remodelling of Derby Moor School, a design and build secondary school project, will also start in January 2011.
Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler, said: "We look forward to working in close partnership with Derby City Council to create new, first-class, learning environments as well as facilities that will be available to the whole community including leisure, learning, sports and ICT provision."
Balfour Beatty Education was appointed as preferred bidder for the scheme in June 2010.
Balfour Beatty will invest equity of £3m into the 25-year concession. All construction and facilities management will be carried out by Balfour Beatty. ICT services across all the schools will be delivered in conjunction with RM, a leading supplier of ICT services and solutions to the UK education sector.
As part of Balfour Beatty's commitment to the local community, it has pledged an economic benefits package which includes 1,040 apprenticeship weeks of training throughout the construction period, through the recently-launched Balfour Beatty Apprenticeships programme; mentoring and work placements to pupils in Derby; employment for local residents, and work packages for local employers, ensuring a lasting skills legacy for the local area.
Balfour Beatty has 11 PPP concessions in the education sector, five under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme at Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton, Newcastle, Southwark, Islington and Knowsley, five in the UK under the previous PPP model at Stoke, Bassetlaw, Rotherham, Birmingham and North Lanarkshire and one in Singapore. These programmes involve the construction of over 100 new schools and learning centres and upgrading and maintaining well over 100 others. Balfour Beatty has over £60 million of committed equity in the sector.