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THE Brisbane office of DLA Piper has bolstered its Trans-Tasman reach, after advising Hawkins Group Limited in New Zealand.
The construction firm has secured the contract to complete the New Zealand Schools II Public Private Partnership, in conjunction with other providers.
As part of the Future Schools Partners (FSP) consortium, Morrison & Co's Public Infrastructure Partners fun will provide equity, Program Facility Management will oversee the project and ASC Architects will handle design.
This isn't the first assignment of its kind for DLA Piper, having previously advised Hawkins Group on the Hobsonville Point Schools PPP the first PPP to reach financial close in New Zealand.
The team was led by partner Alex Guy, with assistance from senior associates Jose de Ponte and Kim Broadbent and solicitor Kate McKenzie.
Partner Lyndon Masters and solicitor Steph Papadapoulos also finalised equity documents for Hawkins Group's investment in the project.
"We are proud to be part of the Hawkins and FSP team that will deliver these state-of-the-art educational facilities as part of New Zealand's second school-related PPP," Guy says.
The schools included in the PPP include Ormiston Junior College in Auckland, Aranui Community Campus and Rolleston Secondary School in Christchurch and Wakatipu High School in Queenstown.
The Auckland and Christchurch schools are due to open in 2017, followed by Queenstown in early 2018.
In an earlier statement, Hawkins Group CEO Geoff Hunt says the consortium is well placed to deliver the four new schools after the success of the first PPP.
"We enjoyed working closely with our partners on the first schools PPP and look forward to delivering more learning environments that meet the aspirational need of school communities and at the same time delivering whole-of-life value," he says.
Bell Gully acted for the New Zealand Government and Anderson Lloyd represented FSP.
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