The Scholen van Vlaanderen programme is designed to significantly improve the school infrastructure in Flanders through a public-private partnership aimed at designing, building, financing and maintaining school buildings for a period of 30 years.
The Scholen van Vlaanderen programme is a public-private partnership launched by the Flemish Government and comprises a total of three lots representing an investment of approximately €1.2 billion, good for 450,000 m² of additional school space for some 85,000 pupils.
The private consortium ‘Schoolkracht’, comprising AG Real Estate, Epico2, Ethias and Rebel, was selected to execute the first lot after a market procedure. This lot comprises 29 school projects, which together will create some 170,000 sqm of additional school space for 20,000 pupils. The next two lots will be publicly tendered at a later date.
The programme will be structured along the so-called DBFM-method: Design, Build, Finance, Maintain. This method allows 29 unique projects to be delivered through a standardised method that takes the maximum burden off the school boards. The school can give its own interpretation to the plans, after which Schoolkracht takes on the financing and further elaboration. The school’s requirements are processed into tender-ready projects and then put on the market. Thanks to the wealth of experience and expertise in developing and implementing projects of this kind, the private partners guarantee that the financing, design, construction and maintenance phases follow each other seamlessly. After completion of the school building, the school board pays an annual availability fee during the 30-year maintenance period. Upon completion, the building is transferred to the school board at no additional cost.
The public partner in this programme is the Flemish Government and AGION (Agency for Infrastructure in Education).
The ‘Schoolkracht’ consortium is the private partner in this partnership and consists of AG Real Estate, Epico2, Ethias and Rebel. AG Real Estate is responsible for the project management and, as delegated developer, is responsible for the operational implementation of the programme. The delegated developer organises the entire design process, construction process and maintenance for 30 years of each individual school. Epico2 provides expertise in transport and digital infrastructure, while Ethias and Rebel provide financing and risk management.
As an institutional investor, AG Real Estate promotes a constructive and innovative approach to public-private partnerships. Thanks to our previous expertise and experience in structuring PPPs, particularly through our previous collaboration with the Flemish Government in the Scholen van Morgen programme, we can offer our public partners complete and high-quality solutions to meet today’s challenges.