Province of Saskatchewan Closes Joint-Use Schools Projects

On August 20, 2015, the Province of Saskatchewan reached financial close on two bundled Joint-Use Elementary Schools Projects, collectively, the province’s largest school construction projects to date.

Together, the two bundled projects, procured through a design-build-finance-maintain P3 model, consist of 18 new elementary schools on nine new joint-use sites in four rapidly expanding communities: Saskatoon, Regina, Warman and Martensville. The new schools will be fully owned and operated by the local school divisions and are slated to be ready in time for students in September 2017.

Using a traditional approach to build and maintain the schools would have cost $735 million in today’s dollars. By using a P3 model the government anticipates it will save $100 million, including construction, financing and cost of maintenance over 30 years. In total, the government will invest $635 million in today’s dollars over the life of the contract.

Aird & Berlis LLP represented SaskBuilds and the Ministry of Education with a team that included Douglas Younger, Heidi Visser, Patrick Oufi and Lorway Gosse.

A&B provided key legal services throughout the procurement process, including advising on the RFQs and the RFPs, drafting and negotiating the project agreements and related documents with short-listed bidders and bringing the projects to commercial and financial close.