Press Releases 2003

January 13, 2003

School facilities from the private sector: Bilfinger Berger succeeds again in the United Kingdom 

Bilfinger Berger has further extended its successful private-sector concession activities in the United Kingdom. The Company has been appointed as preferred bidder for the long-term provision of two school facilities in the county of Bedfordshire. The Bilfinger Berger consortium will design, construct, finance and operate the schools for a period of thirty years. The project has a volume of €30 million.

Bilfinger Berger has considerable experience in the provision of private-sector concession projects in the United Kingdom. Under the British Government’s private finance initiative (PFI), three school facilities in the county of Wiltshire are now operational with a total investment volume of €55 million. On a similar basis in Hull and Gloucester, new hospitals worth a total of €90 million are currently under construction. 

Bilfinger Berger’s build-operate-transfer (BOT) activities are also focused on Asia and Australia. The go-ahead has just been received for the provision of a two-kilometer-long toll tunnel in Sydney. With a total volume of €520 million this is an outstanding privately financed BOT project in the portfolio of the Bilfinger Berger Group. 

In Germany, Bilfinger Berger is one of the pioneers of the BOT business. Bilfinger Berger was commissioned by the British government to construct, finance and operate its new embassy building in Berlin – a private-sector pilot project. In Lübeck the Company is playing a major part in the design, construction, financing and operation of a road tunnel under the River Trave. Interest in such private-sector solutions is growing in Germany. For example, the widening of particularly congested autobahn sections is to be privately financed. Through its experience abroad, the Bilfinger Berger Group is well placed to benefit from the opening up of this market in Germany.