BAM reaches financial close on Somerset Schools BSF Project

28 September 2010 – BAM is pleased to announce that it has reached financial close on Somerset County Council’s £50 million BSF schools project. BAM PPP is sponsoring the deal with its sister company BAM Construct UK, providing an integrated solution with BAM Construction as building contractor. BAM Facilities Management will provide facilities management services throughout the 25 year operational concession period and RM Education will provide the ICT managed services to the schools. The senior debt is being provided by Dexia and SMBC.

Alongside the delivery of these services, a new partnership company has been formed between Somerset County Council and BAM, established specifically for the delivery of the new schools and partnering services. The dedicated management team within this new company will be responsible for improvement of educational facilities and to leverage wider regeneration, socio-economic and community and leisure opportunities.

The contract will provide the new-build replacement facilities for three schools in Bridgwater. These schools are the:

• 1,050 pupil Chilton Trinity Technology College,
• 900 pupil Robert Blake Science College, and
• 60 pupil Elmwood School, which will be co-located with Robert Blake Science College.

The schools are all of distinct design which responds to each school’s educational needs, site characteristics and specialist stakeholder requirements. Construction work on the sites will commence this month with the new schools opening in October 2012.

Robert Young, Director BAM PPP, said: ‚Everyone at BAM is delighted to have reached this major milestone for the project. This has formalised our strong partnership with Somerset County Council, BSFI and RM Education and means we can get on with the re-building and equipping of the first three schools in Bridgwater. Beyond this we are very much looking forward to the opportunity to work with Somerset County Council to take forward future schools projects in Bridgwater and elsewhere in Somerset.‘

Note to Editors: BAM PPP invests in and manages PPP projects on behalf of Royal BAM Group. BAM PPP has approximately 30 projects in its portfolio. BAM PPP is active in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Germany and Switzerland in the Education, Health, Law and Order, Road and Rail PPP Sectors. BAM Construction and BAM Facilities Management are leading construction and facilities management services organisations, with a turnover in excess of £1 billion. BAM operates throughout the UK from Regional centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Leeds, London, Manchester, and Newcastle. BAM PPP, BAM Construction and BAM FM are wholly owned subsidiaries of Royal BAM Group.

Further information:

• UK press: Vicki Harris, BAM PPP Marketing Department, +44 (0)141 779 8634;
• NL press: Arno C. Pronk, +31 (0)30 659 86 21;
• analysts: Patrick R.E. Snippe, + 31 (0)30 659 87 07.