EC Harris set to take major equity stake in £245m school scheme

QS and project management group EC Harris could become the first amongst its peers to take a major stake in a PPP-style project.

The firm is part of a consortium bidding for a £245m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project in Greenwich, south east London, with partners Alfred McAlpine and Merchant Bank NIBC. The three firms all have equal third stakes in the scheme.

The consortium is vying for the scheme, part of the first wave of the £2.2bn BSF programme to modernise every secondary school in England in the next 15 years, against rival bidders The Mill Group and Vosper Thorneycroft.

EC Harris head of education Paul Foster said taking a significant equity stake in the programme was a major step for the firm. "We want to be at the heart of BSF. It puts us in control of our own destiny."

Foster said the Greenwich model would see the winning consortium become "purely" equity partners for the programme of works. A separate procurement process will be held for the design and construction of the school's rebuildings and refurbishments.

We want to be at the heart of BSF. It puts us in control of our own destiny

Paul Foster, head of education, EC Harris

EC Harris rival Cyril Sweett is one of the only other QS and project managers to take an equity stake in a PPP scheme, having put money into a £23m LIFT health project in Plymouth, although this was only 5%.

The three teams competing for the Greenwich scheme issued submissions for the project in January and a decision on the preferred bidder is due to be made in late March.

The first wave of the programme includes rebuilding two secondary schools in the London borough by 2009, which will cost £40m each.

The first Building Schools for the Future project, a £150m scheme in Bristol, was won by the Skanska Education Partnerships consortium late last year. The next preferred bidder due to be announced is for a programme of works planned for Bradford.