Investment of 450 million in 38 new schools

The growing population in Flanders - which grew by 14% between 2000 and 2023 - is putting pressure on the existing (school) infrastructure. To address the need for additional school capacity, the Flemish government decided to launch the School Building Master Plan. Over the next few years, an investment of around €450 million will be deployed to build 38 new schools. Aurora Scholen, a consortium of investors EPICo and Rebel with contractors Democo and Van Roey, will account for much of it.

The School Building Master Plan is being realised through a public-private partnership (PPP). The programme was kicked off by the Flemish government in September 2016. Then Flemish minister of education Hilde Crevits subsequently launched an appeal to the establishment for the construction of new schools in Flanders and the Brussels region. A building programme was set up for 38 schools, grouped into 12 clusters, amounting to an investment of around €450 million. Aurora Scholen was selected as the only consortium for all 12 clusters covering the 3 education networks.

DBFM-formula
The consortium will start with an initial cluster of 7 schools for the GO! education network of the Flemish Community. Aurora Scholen is also preferred bidder for the second cluster of GO! (8 schools) and for a cluster of the Municipal Education in Ghent & Ninove (3 schools). The schools will be built according to the DBFM formula: Aurora Scholen is responsible for the Design, Build, Financing and 30-year Maintenance of the school buildings. The company will make the buildings available to the school boards for 30 years for an availability fee. Technical and structural maintenance will be carried out by Demtec Services and Van Roey Services throughout this term. The immense construction project will guarantee work for many people in the construction industry for several years. The new schools will be energy efficient and meet the strictest standards in the sector.

Economical formula
Luc Van Rooijen, fund manager at EPICo: "The modernisation of education infrastructure is crucial, and opting for a public-private partnership under the DBFM formula is an ideal way to address that challenge. With such a formula, the construction and maintenance of buildings are taken into account from the design stage, leading to a much more efficient process than developing them separately. We are happy to work with our partners to provide the necessary infrastructure in this way."

Steven Steppe, director at Rebel, adds: "The division into clusters is also beneficial for the schools and the education networks involved. The grouping of several school construction projects enables joint financing, which leads to economies of scale and efficiency gains in terms of financing. We are proud to contribute to the necessary modernisation of the education infrastructure in Flanders with this smart financing solution."

"The fact that the maintenance of the school buildings is included for a period of 30 years as well, is an important part of the programme and an additional benefit of the chosen formula." said Frederik Bijnens, general manager of Democo. "Damage will be repaired immediately, which eliminates the need for parent committees or school councils to organise fundraising events in order to pay for the repairs. Such activities can now be deployed to fully support the school operation or the pedagogical concept. They no longer have to worry about school maintenance or its funding."

Bram Vandenboom, managing director at Van Roey, concludes: "As a project team, we carry a 30-year responsibility for maintenance as well, so we take into account the total cost over the entire life cycle of the building (TCO, total cost of ownership) right from the design stage. We choose high-quality materials and sustainable heating and cooling with heat pumps. This introduces the potential for higher investment costs, but those will be recouped due to the high quality of the solutions.”