Interserve Regulatory News (IRV)

4 Apr 2007 11:50

INTERSERVE CONSORTIUM REACHES FINANCIAL CLOSE ON LEEDS BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE PROGRAMME

The Interserve-led consortium Environments for Learning (E4L) and Leeds City Council have achieved financial close on the first phase of the Leeds Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The contract forms a 10-year strategic partnership between the council, Education Leeds, the government's Partnership for Schools and E4L to deliver the Leeds BSF programme. The initial wave of projects is worth ‚£240m and will be delivered in a number of phases, the first of which is worth some ‚£133m.

This is only the fourth project in the national BSF programme to reach financial close and is the largest in capital value. It has progressed rapidly - achieving financial close in only 14 weeks from the appointment of preferred bidder.

The E4L consortium comprises Interserve, Barclays Private Equity, Mott MacDonald and Cambridge Education. E4L was chosen because their approach and designs demonstrated a good understanding of the educational and community needs of Leeds and a clear commitment to continuous improvement and delivering value for money.

The first phase, consisting of four new schools under the private finance initiative and two refurbishments, will provide facilities for some 6,000 pupils and is due to be operational by September 2008. Facilities management services, which will also be delivered by the consortium, will run over 25 years. One more newly-built school and seven further major refurbishments will be completed by 2010. As a result of the strategic partnership there will be potential for the E4L consortium to develop additional projects.

BSF is the single biggest government investment in improving school buildings for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over a 10 -15 year period, raising educational attainment, promoting good citizenship and engendering a sense of community. Leeds, one of the largest Metropolitan District Councils in the country, is committed to ensuring that strong, effective schools are at the heart of its community and is set to transform its entire secondary school estate through the BSF initiative.

Adrian Ringrose, Chief Executive of Interserve, said: " The lessons we have learnt building and servicing schools around the country will help us provide Leeds with the best possible learning environment for its children. We look forward along with our consortium partners, the City Council and Partnership for Schools, to delivering first-class schools to the city".

Chris Edwards, Chief Executive of Education Leeds, said: "We want to transform learning outcomes for our children and young people and ensure that they are happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful. We know the impact of inspiring places and this building programme is giving Leeds some of the most advanced and innovative learning environments in the country...places where we can achieve truly world class outcomes!

"We needed to rethink what our learning places look like and how they are used and E4L's innovative designs help us do just that. They are built around the needs and aspirations of our talented school-based colleagues and wonderful young people and help us deliver a new universal offer for young people, families and communities".

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For further information please contact:

Amanda Cardall 0121 331 8125Interserve - Corporate Marketing ManagerElizabeth Morley 020 7379 5151Maitland

About Interserve Interserve Plc (www.interserve.com) is a services, maintenance and building group. It creates buildings and other structures for clients in the public and private sectors, maintains many different types of buildings, the operational systems that support them and a range of plant and equipment in specialist fields, and co-ordinates a host of background services to keep its clients' operations running smoothly and efficiently while they concentrate on their core business. Interserve is based in the UK and is a FTSE 250 company. It employs 26,000 people worldwide and has revenue of ‚£1.5 billion.

About Environments for Learning (E4L)

E4L is a consortium of three leading organisations in the delivery of education services and projects. The consortium is made up of equity partners:

* Interserve * Mott MacDonald (including Cambridge Education - a market leader in delivering education support services to both LEA's and the DfES * Barclays Private Equity

Advisors to the Environments for Learning Consortium:

Architects: Watkins Gray Mentor (Faulkner Brown & GHM Rock Townsend)Financial Advisor: MacquarieLegal Advisor: AshurstFunder: Sumitomo Bank

The Public Private Partnership Unit (PPPU) Leeds City Council has formed a unique specialist unit - the Public Private Partnership Unit (PPPU) - to coordinate partnerships with the private sector and support individual departments with projects like BSF. The Public Private Partnership Unit has achieved a number of prestigious industry awards including Best Public Sector Project Team and Best Government / Government Agency Team at the Public Private Awards May 2006. Furthermore, it has actively contributed to two of Leeds City Council's Beacon Awards (Asset Management and Procurement) and was `Highly Commended' for the Primary Schools Project in the 2006/06 National PFI Awards.