Building Schools for the Future was arguably the most ambitious PPP programme the UK Government has undertaken. Bevan Brittan was at the forefront of this programme since its inception in 2003.
We were retained by Partnerships for Schools to help them design the structure for the BSF Programme, to draft the procurement documentation and legal contracts and to help bed down the standard approach through consultation and advising on pathfinder procurements.
Since then we have led the way in a number of respects, such as:
- closing the first procurement of a Local Education Partnership in BSF (Bristol)
- advising on the first BSF scheme to use the Competitive Dialogue procedure (Islington)
- advising on the first BSF procurement not to follow the LEP model (Greenwich)
- advising on the first scheme to close on one basis, but structured to allow for a "flip" to another, once the funding market improved (Newham)
We took a major role advising on ten BSF schemes which reached Financial Close.
Our client instructions were well into double figures, stretching from Rotherham to Portsmouth and from Rochdale to Camden and covering some of the largest (Birmingham) and smallest schemes (Hackney).
We advised three successful bidding consortia on the formation of Local Education Partnerships and the funder of one other BSF scheme.
We are currently advising on over half a dozen operational BSF programmes, supporting Local Authorities, LEPs and Funders.
We continued to advise Partnerships for Schools on strategic issues, such as improvements to the procurement process, revisions to standard documents and potential new structures up to the Governments decision to review the Education Capital programme. In turn we were the only law firm to be invited to participate in the James Review.
As Schools Capital Projects enters a new era, no other legal advisers can offer this breadth and depth of experience.