Education 2010 Latest Progress

North Lanarkshire Council's project to construct 24 state-of-the-art schools has picked up the PPP/PFI of the Year award at the 2006 Scottish Business Insider Deals and Dealmakers awards – one of the leading events on the Scottish business calendar.

The Deals and Dealmakers awards recognise exceptional achievement by Scottish companies and the companies and people leading Scotland's corporate finance market place, based on deals completed in the previous year. PPP/PFI of the Year is one of nine award categories.

In assessing the awards, the judges looked for deals that stood out in terms of co-operation between the parties involved and imaginative solutions produced by all sides. North Lanarkshire Council's Education 2010 public private partnership (PPP) project – which was one of three finalists in the running for the accolade – impressed the judges with the significant step forward the deal represented in the financing of PFI/PPP projects.

The unique financing of the project – Education 2010 was the first schools PPP deal to be financed through public bonds issued on the sterling capital markets traded on the UK stock exchange – secured a positive financial outcome for the council. It established estimated savings of between £500,000 and £800,000 per year on the unitary charge the council will pay to its private partner, Transform Schools (North Lanarkshire) Ltd, for the duration of the 30-years PPP contract.

Transform Schools is the company established by the council's private sector partner – Balfour Beatty Capital Projects Ltd – and its partners to deliver on this landmark project in North Lanarkshire.

The success of these financial arrangements has paved the way for other similar deals across the country and also saw Education 2010 PPP named Euromoney European Project Finance Education Deal of the Year 2005 earlier this year.