



Leeds Schools: SPV Management
Vercity delivers the Management Services Agreement (MSA) for ten primary schools across Leeds, managing stakeholder expectations and ensuring the facilities management provider achieves its contract obligations.
Sector
Education
Key Stakeholders
Leeds City Council on behalf of QED (Leeds) Limited
Original Investment Value
Construction Capex £36m
The project
QED (Leeds) Limited is the Project Company that delivers financial and operational services for ten primary schools in Leeds, on behalf of Leeds City Council. The contract for all ten schools was awarded in April 2004, with concession end and project handback scheduled for July 2031. All the schools were built by Wates Construction from 2004 to 2006 and facilities management is provided by Pinnacle Group.
Approach
Vercity provides MSA services to the project, with a strong focus on contract compliance, ensuring the FM provider delivers its contractual obligations. In addition, we have committed to working with others to create an enhanced learning environment for children and continually work with our partners, with Leeds City Council and with the ten schools to optimise opportunities for educational standards to improve.



Process
In setting the priorities and objectives of the projects, we help guide operations, ensuring the FM provider achieves contractual compliance and that investor cashflows are protected. By focusing on the quality and consistency of the services the FM provider delivers, we ensure that operations run smoothly and are fully compliant with all contractual obligations and client expectations. Through our centralised reporting system, we’re able to capture live data and identify any technical issues early. We then use horizon scanning to mitigate risk and reduce its impact on the projects.
The result
The QED Leeds Schools project was completed in 2006, with a contract that lasts for 27 years. It was awarded the prestigious Best Operational Project award in 2019 in the PPP Partnership awards in recognition of the exemplary record of the project partners in creating and supporting initiatives within the wider community.


Project impact
Our MSA team delivers positive impact for the public sector users, including staff, children, parents and the wider community, while maintaining investor returns. Supported by Vercity’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives, our project team also embraces environmental social governance (ESG) principles and is actively involved in promoting proactive partnerships which include: environmental improvement schemes, health and well-being initiatives and a ‘Skills City’ project which aims to improve basic literacy and numeracy skills in 16-24 years old in the local community.
‘‘The Leeds 10-Schools PPP project is complex, but we work together as partners to enhance the service and work on so many different initiatives to benefit the whole community that it feels like something else…something better…something that’s making a difference in people’s lives.’’
David Dunning
Senior PPP Officer, Leeds City Council
Meet your contract obligations, deliver with confidence
Learn more about Vercity’s operations management capabilities.
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