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Balfour Beatty reaches financial close on £127 million Bassetlaw Grouped Schools project

The project will involve four new secondary schools, a new special school and two new centres for post-16 education in Retford and Worksop and a new secondary school in Tuxford. It will also create two new leisure centres for Bassetlaw District Council. Phased completion of the new facilities is scheduled for 2006 and 2007. Balfour Beatty will invest some £7 million of equity in the project.

Commenting on the award, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler, said:

“We are delighted to be able to proceed in providing new facilities in Bassetlaw and to support Nottinghamshire County Council’s objective of giving pupils and teachers an enhanced environment where learning can flourish. The new facilities will bring benefits to the schools and their wider communities. Our objective is to bring the same level of professionalism and service to this task as the work we are carrying out in our Stoke, Rotherham and North Lanarkshire Schools PFIs.”

The key objectives for Nottinghamshire County Council are the replacement of deteriorating and unsuitable accommodation, the improvement of educational attainment and post-16 staying-on rates and improved community facilities.

Construction work will be carried out by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty subsidiaries, Balfour Beatty Construction and Balfour Kilpatrick. Facilities management, to a value in excess of £100 million, will be undertaken by Haden Building Management, another Balfour Beatty subsidiary. This will include maintenance, catering, cleaning and grounds maintenance.

This is Balfour Beatty’s fourth major schools PFI project through Transform Schools, in partnership with its joint investor, Innisfree Ltd. Its projects at Stoke and Rotherham are proceeding very successfully, while financial close on the project for North Lanarkshire Council was achieved last month.

In the recent 2005 Public Private Finance Awards, Transform Schools’ Rotherham concession won the “Best Community/User Involvement in a Project” Award for its achievements through consultation with the project’s key stakeholder groups, including school managers, governors and prospective users.

Transform Schools won both Best Operational Education Project and the overall top prize of Best Operational Partnership (All Sectors) at the 2004 Public Private Finance Awards. The company won for its 25-year Stoke Schools concession, under which nine new schools were contracted to be built, 98 refurbished and full responsibility taken for maintenance and whole-life care of the whole stock of 122 schools. The scheme has now grown to accommodate 13 new schools and numerous new extensions.

Enquiries to:

Tim Sharp
Tel: 020 7216 6884

www.balfourbeatty.com

Notes to Editors

1. In addition to Stoke, Balfour Beatty’s other schools PFI projects are:
• for the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham (10 new schools and five refurbished schools plus energy management, repairs and maintenance, caretaking, cleaning and catering – in a 30-year concession worth £100 million in construction and £40 million in long-term services).
• for North Lanarkshire Council (24 new schools in a 30-year concession worth £140 million in construction and up to £100 million in long-term services).
• for Birmingham City Council, Transform is preferred bidder on a scheme worth £56 million which will provide 12 new and refurbished schools.
2. Balfour Beatty is carrying out all design and construction work for schools in East Lothian in a contract worth some £40 million under the PPP concession for that council.
3. Balfour Beatty is providing all design and build services for Babcock and Brown in its schools PFI projects. Work secured under this arrangement to date exceeds £80 million, including the construction of five new schools in Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
4. Balfour Beatty is one of two construction partners to Manchester City Council in its “Building Schools for the Future” programme in a 3-5 year contract likely to be worth up to £80 million. The work will involve substantial redevelopment of Manchester’s secondary school stock.
5. Balfour Beatty is a world-class engineering, construction and services group, well positioned in infrastructure markets which offer significant growth potential. Its partnerships with public and private customers generate secure, sustainable income. Its financial position, with significant net cash and with strong operating cash flows, offers continuing flexibility to add additional capacity and expertise to the business mix and to make appropriate investments in PPP and other long-term growth opportunities.