Bexley Schools PFI
North Consulting Limited, a specialist project finance consultancy and part of the Equity Solutions Group, provided lead, technical and financial advisory to Bexley Council in the full procurement of the Bexley Schools project.
Financial close was achieved with Investors in the Community in April 2003 and construction was completed over a series of phased handovers in 2005 and 2006.
The project provides two redeveloped secondary schools comprising Bexleyheath Community School which is a 2100 pupil secondary school situated in Bexleyheath whose roll will rise to 2215 and Welling Community School which is a 1500 pupil secondary school situated in Welling with a roll rising to 1640 following expansion.
The project comprises a combination of new-build and refurbishment which required a sophisticated specification during the bid stage and a detailed negotiation to achieve the optimum transfer of risk and best value for money. Both were achieved and the Council was able to close the project within its affordability parameters.
The project was procured using the innovative benchmark funding methodology which was central to the SPV securing a very competitive debt funding package.
North Consulting was involved in the project since inception, providing a full multi-disciplinary team to prepare the Outline Business Case (which was successful in securing PFI Credits of £38.2m), the ITN and Final Business Case.
