James Stewart, formerly head of project finance, Europe at Newcourt Capital, the European investment-banking arm of CIT Group, will take up the post within the next four weeks.
The announcement comes as two high-profile PFI deals were given the go-ahead. The larger of the two deals is a £1.5bn contract to refurbish the Ministry of Defence’s Whitehall headquarters. The winning consortium, Modus Services, includes Amey, Kvaerner, Hyder, Macquarie Infrastructure and Innisfree.
Kvaerner‘s role involves a £340m design-and-construct contract to refurbish the headquarters. However, initially, it will refurbish four Whitehall buildings to temporarily accommodate about 4000 staff. This phase is expected to be completed by the middle of 2001.
The headquarters redevelopment is due for completion by the end of 2004. Once finished, Amey Business Services will manage more than 60 services for the MOD over the 30-year term of the contract. The second PFI contract to get clearance this week was the troubled £240m, 35-year HM Treasury deal to refurbish and redevelop its offices in London’s Great George Street.
The winning team, Exchequer Partnership, includes Bovis Lend Lease, Stanhope and Chesterton International.
The first phase, with an expected construction cost of £118m, is set to start in July. This involves the refurbishment of 46 500 m2 and is due for completion by August 2002.
Phase two of the project will begin when an occupier has been confirmed. This phase is thought to be worth £120m. The project was originally announced in January 1995 but was put on hold in July 1997 by the Labour government.
