Monday, April 04, 2005

Equion, a division of John Laing plc has reached financial close on a £71 million PFI contract to design, build, finance and operate seven new schools in the North Swindon area.

The project, which comprises of two secondary schools, three primary schools and two special schools for pupils with severe learning difficulties, will provide over 3,685 school places.

Four of the schools will be built on a pioneering new Learning Campus in the North Swindon area. This campus will also include sports facilities, physiotherapy and speech therapy unit and a hydrotherapy pool – which will be available for use by the wider community as well as local health and social service professionals.

Construction will be carried out by Laing O’Rourke and will begin immediately, with early works having already begun. On completion of construction, the contract will run for 25 years and will include hard and soft facilities management services provided by Equion FM.

Richard Weston, managing director of Equion commented on the project saying; “This is an exciting initiative for both Equion and Swindon Borough council and we are very much looking forward to beginning work on the project. Not only will it improve educational facilities in the Swindon area, it also provides a vision of how school facilities could change in the future, to harness the diverse needs of young learners and the wider community.”  

The North Swindon schools project is being developed by a consortium that comprises of Equion Ltd as the equity investor, Equion FM as facilities management provider, the Architects Co-Partnership (ACP), contractor Laing O’Rourke and funder Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. 

Ends
 

Notes to Editors

1) Four existing schools in North Swindon are being replaced; Hreod Parkway Secondary School, Brimble Hill Special School, Uplands Special School and Moredon Primary School (which replaces Moredon Infants and Junior Schools). The three new schools are yet to be named.
2) Equion is a specialist provider of facilities in the PFI and PPP markets with a long-term perspective and approach. Equion offers a combination of skills and experience, from planning and funding through to design, construction and operation. It is actively involved in the management of a wide range of education, police, health, defence and special purpose government facilities including:
- Highlands Secondary School in Enfield
- Newham and Enfield Combined Schools project
- Glasgow and Edinburgh Schools project
- South East Essex College at Southend
- the Ministry of Defence Main Building refurbishment in Whitehall
- 17 police stations and facilities in Greater Manchester
- the Metropolitan Police Service Specialist Training Centre in Gravesend
- the new Norfolk & Norwich, and Queen Elizabeth (Greenwich) Hospitals
- a radical restructuring of primary health care facilities in Manchester, Salford and Trafford
3) John Laing plc, is one of the UK’s leading corporate developers and investors in public infrastructure through the Private Finance Initiative with a proven record of delivering new investments on time and to budget. It holds a large and expanding portfolio of investments under three main divisions: Laing Roads, Laing Rail and Equion. The Group currently invests in a total of 45 projects spanning education, transport, health and special purpose government facilities, of which 26 are fully operational. It is currently preferred bidder on 9 PFI and PPP projects. The majority of the investments are within the UK though a number are in continental Europe. http://www.laing.com/
4) Equion and its parent company John Laing plc won the Infrastructure Journal Developer of the Year Award in February 2004. http://www.equion.ltd.uk/