A further significant step forward in the preparations for making a start on South Ayrshire Council's ambitious £73 million Public Private Partnership Initiative to replace or improve school buildings took place today (18.1.06).

Top executives from the three key corporate shareholders in the consortium which the Council has selected as the preferred bidder for the initiative were among those who visited Ayr to take part in a special meeting with the Council's PPP Member/Officer Board.

Afterwards, the Leader of South Ayrshire Council, Councillor Gibson T. Macdonald said: "I was delighted to meet the representatives of the consortium, and I fully appreciate the importance attached to the initiative by the presence of such significant persons from each. The briefing that was provided, together with the visual presentation of school designs, was highly informative and well worth while."

And Councillor Macdonald pointed out: "It must be appreciated that the decision to go with PPP has been unanimously supported by both the Administration and the Opposition group within the Council. We have universal agreement."

The Initiative is set to build new primary schools at Barassie, Alloway and Monkton, new secondary schools at Belmont and Prestwick, and an extension to Kyle Academy.

The consortium - called Education 4 All (E4A) - which was unanimously chosen as the preferred bidder by the Council , subject to approval by the Scottish Government, comprises Bank of Scotland Corporate (47.5% share); Carillion Private Finance (47.5% share) and Cyril Sweett Holdings (5% share).

During the meeting, which was attended by Dick Burge, Director of Infrastructure and Finance at Bank of Scotland Corporate; Tony Lenehan, Managing Director of Carillion Integrated Services; David Hazelton Commercial Director, Carillion Construction Limited ; Ken Gill, Director of Cyril Sweett Holdings Limited ; Paul Bell, a director of Ryder HKS; and Roland Shaw, Director of Mitie PFI Limited , the consortium emphasized its intention to bring a "wide range of both partnership skills and shared values to the joint project team."

In a statement, the consortium said: "Engaging with the Council's PPP and Education delivery staff has been stimulating and has forced every member of our team to extend themselves in seeking out the best educational solution for the provision of new facilities.

"We confirm that we have adopted a truly integrated approach to the design process which is educationally led and solution focused. This has resulted in truly functional designs which combine educational and aesthetic considerations. Consultation has been a priority for us from the outset, engaging with the Council and stakeholders to develop original, flexible and robust solutions, and we believe that the ongoing development of our proposals will result in an educational legacy of which we can all be proud."

The consortium assured the meeting: "Our key subcontractors and professional team have, we believe, brought an educationally focused, high quality, robust design and construction plan to the project."

The Council's PPP Team, headed by Project Leader Roddy MacDonald, is scheduled to have further talks with the consortium, and subject to agreement on the final financial details and the approval of the Scottish Government, the hope is that building work will start this summer.

Acknowledging delivery of educational objectives being at the heart of its proposals, the consortium emphasized: "E4A understand the gravity of the responsibility of this contract, requiring as it does a partnership with the council lasting over 30 years. It is therefore vital that the financial legacy is more than balanced by the education excellence legacy."

A key element of the consortium's proposals relates to the Service Provision in respect of cleaning and janitorial services - to be provided by the sub contractor Mitie.

The PPP Member/Officer Board were assured: "Mitie are an experienced first class service provider with enthusiasm and commitment to service excellence and the meeting of the needs of pupils and the community. Mitie will offer an unsurpassed package to staff transferring to their employ, including a contractual undertaking of no redundancies within 60 months, and parity for all existing and new employees."

Following the meeting, Councillor Macdonald said: "During our discussions, I was delighted to hear representatives from the consortium emphasize that its aim is to ensure that South Ayrshire schools become what they described as 'exciting places' for all of the key stakeholders which contribute to educational attainment and citizenship for our young people.

"The consortium is also confident that it can provide South Ayrshire Council with a lifelong learning partner that is solution focused and shares our ambitions for the local pupils and community and will create a learning centre for the 21 st century."

Councillor Macdonald added: "The consortium has also pointed out that it would wish to discuss and agree with us a number of initiatives which interface with the pupils at both primary and secondary schools, relating to pupil and parent involvement in the new schools, covering safety, the communication of information, pupil sponsorship and training opportunities.

"Teamwork, without a doubt, is going to play an important role in the provision of the initiative. I was interested to learn that members of the Education 4 All consortium have worked closely before on school projects, and indeed Carillion and the Bank of Scotland are equity shareholders in the consortium delivering the Renfrewshire Schools PPI/PPP projects, with Carillion Construction being the design and build contractor."

Also taking part in the meeting was the Convener of the Council's Lifelong Learning Committee, Councillor Pam Paterson, who said: "We have had an extremely comprehensive briefing and discussion. Now the way is clear for the final financial details to be confirmed and for other preparatory work to be undertaken and completed for the initiative. Hopefully construction work will begin during the summer."

And the Depute Leader of the Labour Group, Councillor David Duncan said: "I have been delighted to meet with the representatives of the shareholders and contractors who the Council will be entrusting to undertake such an important initiative. The briefing that we have been given has been well worth-while, and I appreciate the presence of all who attended to assure us of their commitment to benefiting education in South Ayrshire."

Pictured prior to the meeting of the PPP Member/Officer Board, at which a welcome was extended by South Ayrshire Provost Winifred Sloan, from the left: Ken Gill, Director of Cyril Sweett Holdings Limited; Dick Burge, Director of Infrastructure and Finance at Bank of Scotland Corporate; Roland Shaw, Director of Mitie PFI Limited; Tony Lenehan, Managing Director of Carillion Integrated Services; Councillor Hugh Hunter, Convener of the Council's Community Safety Committee; Provost Winifred Sloan; Councillor David Duncan, Depute Leader of the Council's Labour Group; Councillor Pam Paterson, Convener of the Lifelong Learning Committee; David Hazelton Commercial Director, Carillion Construction Limited ; Paul Bell, a director of Ryder HKS, and Councillor Gibson T. Macdonald, Leader of South Ayrshire Council.

January 2006