Tag Archives: Social Infrastructure

Asian Development Bank – Learning from Scottish Education PPP models

The Asian Development Bank has published our article on Scottish Education PPP models and how they could be applied in the bank’s sphere of operations. In this blog we:

  • look at reasons why PPP is less widely adopted as a development model for education infrastructure compared to other sectors such as energy, transport and utilities;
  • consider the benefits that wider adoption of PPP could bring;
  • describe innovative structured that have been developed in Scotland; and,
  • suggest how they might be structured and deployed in the region.

The full article can be accessed on Asian Development Bank Blog.

Our second Aberdeenshire Schools DBFM/PPP has reached financial close

Our appointment as Transaction Financial Advisers by Aberdeenshire Council on the procurement of a replacement for Inverurie Academy and Community Campus came to a successful conclusion when financial close was achieved on 19 April 2018.

This is our second such appointment by the Council, having previously supported the procurement of Alford Community Campus which opened its doors to pupils for the first time in October 2015.

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Photograph credit hub North Scotland

Both new schools were procured with our support from hub North Scotland under the hub/DBFM/PPP structure. They will variously serve pupils in early years (#kindergarten), primary and secondary education and include a range of community facilities such as theatre, sports hall, swimming pool, community library and dance studio, with all-weather and grass playing fields.

 

Angus Council – transaction adviser for two new primary schools

We are very pleased to have supported Angus Council on the procurement of replacements for Muirfield and Ladyloan Primary Schools in the coastal town of Arbroath, which reached financial close on 24 November 2017.  The new schools are being developed under a single Design-Build-Finance-Maintain contract with hub East Central.

Each school will have a capacity of approximately 335 primary pupils and 72 pre-school pupils.

We supported the Council’s in-house team in confirming that financial submissions from the private sector partner are within the various limits set by the Territory Partnering Agreement and we worked closely with the financing partners to achieve a successful financial close to the project. 

This continues our long relationship with Angus Council which including supporting the initial feasibility study, and subsequently acting as transaction advisor, for the Forfar and Carnoustie schools PPP.

Uruguay – Management of Operational PPPs

On October 9 and 10 2017, Martin Finnigan participated an inter-institutional seminar on Control and Monitoring of PPP Contracts, at the invitation of Ministry of Economics and Finance of the Government of Uruguay and the British Embassy.

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Presenting alongside Dr. Patricia Benavente (Peru) and Inspector of the Contract of UPPL No. 1 Bernardo Vidal (Uruguay), I delivered two sessions that explained the relevance of the Scottish PPP experience to Uruguay.

The event was attended by over 50 professionals with an interest in PPP in Uruguay including central government agencies, service delivery bodies, investors and funders.

I developed a theory of the forces the drive the evolution and development of PPP in an economy, and noted how managing a PPP pipeline demands the ability to adapt to foreseeable changes in the external environment, and cope with unexpected ones.

I also identified lessons we have learned in Scotland over 20 years of PPP, and interpreted these in the Latin American context.  Finally, I presented our report on the management of operational PPPs in the social infrastructure sector.

Ground breaking work of e-sgoil recognised in our report

How often do we see a project that breaks genuinely new ground? 

Very rarely I would say, but e-sgoil does, as Holyrood Magazine reported while commenting on our recent study.

E-sgoil is not just another distance learning package. It seeks out situations where location is at the root of a mismatch between the demand for – and supply of – education.  Then it asks how technology can be used to address the mismatch.  It takes Smart Cities concepts and applies them in the Smart Islands context.

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Developed in the Western Isles with the vision of “Placing the Periphery at the Centre”, e-sgoil is finding applications across Scotland: helping address shortages of specialist teachers, delivering Gaelic language courses in places where it was not previously feasible, broadening the curriculum in small island schools, and enabling students of all ages to study courses up to postgraduate levels in the workplace or close to home.

 

Perth & Kinross – New Bertha Park High School Financial Close

The procurement of the new Bertha Park High School by Perth & Kinross Council reached financial close on 27 September 2017 . Built to accommodate pupil generated by the rapid expansion of the city, the new school will be developed under a single compact PPP contract between the Council and  hub East Central Scotland.

As the public sector Financial Transaction Adviser on this PPP we supported the Council’s in-house team and were responsible for assessing financial submissions from the private sector partner. This included confirming that returns, margins and fees are in line with the market and consistent with pre-agreed levels.  We worked closed with technical specialists to calibrate the payment mechanism, and supported commercial negotiations.

Caledonian Economics Review of Operational PPP Projects

Caledonian Economics helps Local Authorities, Health Agencies and National Government develop and deliver excellent PPP projects.  We work at all stages of the PPP process: PPP strategy development, business cases, financial modelling, transaction support, Operational PPP performance improvement, rescue of distressed projects, and Public Sector training and capacity building.

Many of the projects we have supported have been open and operating successfully for ten years or more.  The senior public sector officials who have been responsible for these projects are  uniquely experienced to comment on the most effective approaches to long term management of PPP projects.

We spoke to ten of these public sector professionals, asked about their experiences, and discussed what advice they would give to new projects, now and in the future.

In our new report on Operational PPP projects, we ask seven key questions about the effectiveness of PPP Management, and identify important lessons.  You can read what we found out in our new report by downloading it here: Caledonian Economics Report on Operational Projects.

Caledonian Economics PPP Masterclasses

IMG_1915Senior public sector officials from central government departments in Beijing and several Chinese provinces including Jinan, Guangzhou and Hebei have taken part in our PPP Masterclasses this month.  This follows events we have run previously for government officials in Latvia and Uruguay and of course many training and development events in Scotland.

Our bespoke events draw from a menu of knowledge areas that covers all financial and commercial aspects of Public Private Partnerships.  They  provide an ideal opportunity to learn and share expertise that equip participants will skills to develop robust projects which deliver real social and economic benefits.

Our Event Leaders include some of the most experienced PPP practitioners in the world.  This professional team has worked at every stage in the PPP development process including sectoral strategy  development, feasibility and planning, transaction support, operational performance improvement, and rescue of distressed PPP projects.

Please contact us if you would like to know more about how we can help you shape better projects.

 

Dumfries and Galloway Schools PPP – Operational Support

We have been reappointed to provide financial advisory support to Dumfries and Galloway Council for the operational phase of the Smarter Schools PPP project.

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Stranraer Academy, refurbished and extended

This project was signed in 2008 and all eleven schools were operational by 2010.  The project was financed by a £127 million facility provided by HSBC and the European Investment Bank.

This reappointment continues our long relationship with the Council which spanned the project business case, tender preparation and evaluation, financial close, and project effectiveness assignments during the operational phase.

Published articles on developments in Social Infrastructure PPPs

Scotland has a great record of evolving PPP models to suit particular geographic, social and political conditions going back almost two decades.  Meanwhile, recent developments in Wales are breaking new ground.

In two articles recently published on the FOMIN/Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank blogs, Martin Finnigan and Michael Walker explain some of the nuances and make the case for applying such models more widely.